[B-Greek] B-Greek FAQ
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Jun 5 06:27:40 EDT 2006
It has been a while since this was last published on-list and it
really should be published at least once a quarter--administrivia
messages often are sent to the entire list (unsubscribe requests,
especially) unnecessarily because straightforward instructions in the
FAQ are ignored or have never been read. One revision that should be
made is noted in square brackets below: the list for discussion of
textual criticism indicated in the version of the FAQ posted at the
official site is now defunct; Wieland Willker's more-recently
established TC list now serves that function admirably: http://
groups.yahoo.com/group/textualcriticism/
===============
B-Greek mailing list FAQ (last revised October 17, 2004)
B-greek (Biblical Greek)
About B-greek: B-GREEK is a mailing list for scholars and students of
Biblical Greek. Our main focus is upon understanding the Greek text
of the
Bible. Discussion topics include scholarly study of the Greek Bible and
related Jewish and Christian Greek texts, tools for beginning and
advanced
students of
Biblical Greek such as textbooks, reference works, bibliography and
research tools, and linguistic topics such as morphology, lexicography,
syntax,and discourse analysis. B-Greek was established in 1992 by David
Marotta at the Center for Christian Study, an independent Christian
ministry at the University of Virginia. In 1998 the list changed its
venue
to metalab at UNC-Chapel Hill after David asked to step down as list
owner.
We are grateful to David for his vision of a forum where the Greek
text and
language of the Bible are probed in ongoing conversation by an eclectic
group of beginning students and veteran teachers, lay persons and
clergy,
conservatives and liberals, earnest inquirers and academic scholars
--equally committed to probing the Biblical text in the original
Koine, and
jointly exploring the mysteries and probabilities of Biblical Greek
morphology and syntax
Anyone interested in New Testament Studies is invited to subscribe, but
list-members will be assumed to have at least a working knowledge of
Biblical Greek. While "lurkers" are welcome to receive and read list
correspondence, posts to the list are expected to pose questions about
Biblical Greek, not general questions or opinions about doctrine or the
meaning of the English text. Even basic questions are welcome, provided
they are really about the meaning of the Greek text. This is not a
general
discussion list for Biblical matters. While one need not be a Greek
scholar
to subscribe, one should at least be taking the first serious steps
in the
study of Biblical Greek.
To see the collection of prior postings to the list,visit the B-greek
Archives at http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/
Some topics ordinarily discussed on B-Greek are:
--The Greek language of the Bible and related texts such as the Greek
OT(Septuagint/LXX), Koiné Greek texts illustrative of the practice of
speakers and writers of Greek in the NT era, Patristic Greek texts,
etc.;
--Resources for teaching and learning (Biblical) Greek: lexica,
grammars,
morphological charts, web-sites, discussion-lists, etc.--including
answers
to questions raised by beginners, whether they are working their own way
through a Greek textbook or studying Greek formally in schools;
--Bibliography pertaining to Biblical Greek topics;
--Specific Greek passages in the Biblical text about which one wishes to
raise questions or suggest alternative approaches;
--questions about Greek textual variants bearing on the
interpretation of a
particular passage may be appropriate (but not general discussion of
textual criticism itself--for which there is a special list of its
own; if
you are interested, you can find more information at
[<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/textualcriticism/>].
B-Greek is not a forum for general Bible issues, except insofar as
they may
bear specifically upon interpretation of a particular Greek text,
Neither
is it a forum general or specific hermeneutical or theological issues.
Keeping discussion informative and constructive?
--Comments should focus upon issues directly related to Biblical
Greek or a
biblical Greek text. If, in the judgment of list-moderators,
discussion is
moving beyond parameters deemed appropriate for the list, a thread
may be
closed;those who continue to post on a closed thread may lose list
privileges.
--Those who participate in the conference represent a wide range of
theological and denominational perspectives, perhaps even including some
whose interests are purely academic. Deep religious convictions surely
characterize many, perhaps most, of the list-participants, and some of
these convictions bear directly upon how the Biblical text is to be
understood. At the core of our discussion, however, is not what our
convictions are but what the Greek text may legitimately be
understood to
mean. If discussion of this nature is to succeed, proper respect and
courtesy to other list members is important. While scholarly debate,
including disagreement, is encouraged as a goal of this conference,
attacks
upon the character, intelligence, or faith of those participating are
not
acceptable. Criticism must focus upon the arguments of others; it may
not
be directed to the individual.
--B-Greek must not be used either to attack or to defend any particular
doctrine deemed "orthodox" by one or another individual or group;
this is
not the forum for apologetic controversy.
--Those who violate these policies will be contacted politely by the
B-Greek
staff and requested to conform to these guidelines. Those who
continue to
violate the policies will no longer be welcome in the conference.
Administrators of B-Greek:
The List-Owner: Jonathan Robie
http://sunsite.unc.edu/koine
jwrobie at mindspring.com OR jonathan.robie at datadirect-technologies.com
The Co-Chairs: Carl Conrad
http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
Carlton Winbery
http://www.lacollege.edu/academics/faculty/winbery.html
Clwinbery at aol.com OR winbery at lacollege.edu
HOUSEKEEPING
Subscribing to B-greek
Subscribe to B-greek by entering the List Information web-site at
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman-2.1/info.b-greek
and filling out the form which follows on the list-description. You
will be
sent email requesting confirmation, to prevent others from gratuitously
subscribing you. This is a hidden list, which means that the list of
members is available only to the list administrator. You will be
asked to
enter in the form:
Your email address:
Your name (While this is optional for registration, real-name signatures
must be appended to all messages sent to the list):
Password: (Do not use a valuable password as it will occasionally be
emailed back to you in cleartext.If you choose not to enter a
password, one
will be automatically generated for you, and it will be sent to you once
you've confirmed your subscription. You can always request a mail-
back of
your password when you edit your personal options).
Language you prefer to display your messages
Messages for distribution to the list should be sent to:
b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Netiquette:
Signatures: It is a courtesy expected of B-Greek subscribers; even
if the
"From" header includes one's personal name as well as the e-address,
posters
should append personal names below their messages. Indications of the
locality from which they write would help personalize further for others
the sender of a message. Academic or institutional information may be
appended also, but there is no privilege associated with any academic or
institutional status so-indicated. Rubrics or comments appended to
signatures must be free of provocative sectarian or political posturing.
Citing off-list messages of others in posts to B-Greek: It is
considered to
be in very poor taste to post to the list items that have been sent off
list. Before doing so always consult the author to see if this is
acceptable. Complaints from authors of messages that have been posted to
the list without their consent will be reviewed by the BG Staff and
appropriate action will be taken, if necessary.
Monitoring of messages sent to the list before distribution: The first
messages posted by each new subscriber are monitored to assure due
observance of list-protocol. Posters who violate list-protocol may be
monitored or, if they persist, may be removed from the list-membership.
Replying to a messages: The software used by the B-Greek list
automatically
formats replies to go to the original sender. If you wish your responses
regularly to go to the list as well, you should set the settings
preferences of your e-mail program to put <b-greek at franklin.oit.unc.edu>
automatically in the cc: header, or you can copy
<b-greek at franklin.oit.unc.edu> into the cc: line in
your reply message header. Please be careful in this regard; an error
may
result in your general response going only to the original sender.
Private messages: Some inquiries will invite private ("off-list")
responses; in that case, simply send a message directly to another
member
of the list, without copying your message to the entire list. Your
message
will be private. No one else will be able to read it. We ask that as
many
messages as possible
be posted to the entire list so everyone can benefit from the
discussion,
but when a private message is truly desired, you always have that
option.
Promoting products, services or public causes on this list: We do not
permit messages on this list which can be interpreted as being of a
commercial or business nature, including sales messages from non-profit
organizations. We especially do not permit messages which spam and/or
cross-post religious discussion lists trying to get people to purchase
products or visit various web sites. Advertisements or job-postings
are not
allowed without the approval of the list-owner, Jonathan Robie
<jonathan.robie at datadirect-technologies.com>. Please clear your requests
before posting. Those directly related to the subject matter of B-GREEK
will probably be approved.
Transliterating Greek in messages sent to B-Greek
TRANSLITERATING GREEK into ASCII
B-Greek has from the beginning allowed every poster to use
any scheme he/she found comfortable, since we all could usually
figure out what text was meant. For those who wish some
guidance, a generally accepted scheme has evolved on the List,
with two or three matters still not fully settled.
(1) CAPITALS are used when transliterating Greek letters, on a
one-to-one basis, reserving lower-case {i} to represent
iota-subscript and lower-case {h} to represent rough breathing.
No accents, no smooth breathings. And no distinction between
medial and final Sigma.
(2) If accents are really necessary, to distinguish otherwise
identical words, acute is represented by {/}, grave by {\}, and
circumflex either by tilde {~ [preferable]} or {=} -- always
AFTER the vowel over which it would be written.
(3) A few characters without Roman single-character form are
usually done with almost-look-alike Roman characters otherwise
unused:
Theta = Q
Eta = H
Psi = Y (upsilon is always U)
Omega = W
(4) Digraphs (in the usual Roman transliteration) are handled in
three different ways to avoid two-letter transliterations, all
involving otherwise-unused Roman letters:
THeta uses Q ("look-alike", as above).
PSi uses Y ("look-alike", as above).
PHi uses F (sound equivalence).
CHi uses C (first letter of traditional digraph).
(5) Xi and Chi: There being no single Roman letter for "Xi"
other than X, the "look-alike" use of X for "Chi" is confusing,
though some use it. And some seem to like to use C for "Sigma."
Since S is otherwise unused, and poses no confusion whatever,
using C for "Sigma" makes for problems in decoding back to Greek,
especially since it is the only letter available for "Chi"
(unless X is used, thus posing a problem for "Xi"). And
occasionally someone uses P for "Rho", making problems for how to
represent "Pi".
*****************************************************************
Usual in Traditional
B-Greek (uses macrons and digraphs)
alpha A a
beta B b
gamma G g
delta D d
epsilon E e
zeta Z z
eta H e with macron
theta Q th
iota I i
kappa K k
lambda L l
mu M m
nu N n
xi X x
omicron O o
pi P p
rho R r
sigma S s
tau T t
upsilon U u
phi F ph
chi C ch
psi Y ps
omega W o with macron
rough breathing h h
iota-subscript i (i)
Other resources about Biblical Greek: There are several Internet
websites
devoted to Biblical Greek, including: Mark Goodacre's British site:
"Greek
New Testament Gateway" at http://www.ntgateway.com/greek/ Marc Huys'
Belgian site: "Greek Grammar on the Web" at
http://perswww.kuleuven.ac.be/~p3481184/greekg.htm
Archives for B-Greek: B-Greek Archives:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/ Here may be found the
correspondence accumulated from list-members since the inception of the
list in 1992. There are gems here, and to assist you to discover
them, the
webmaster, Jonathan Robie, has provided a powerful search engine that
will
quickly enable you to find discussions on a topic of interest to you,
if in
fact, that topic has at some point in the history of the list also
been of
interest to others.
Older archives (5/5/1992-4/20/2002):
http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek/archives/index.html
===================
end BG-FAQ (last revised Oct 17, 2004)
Carl W. Conrad
Co-Chair, B-Greek List
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu or cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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