[B-Greek] Talking Points & Expectations: Why Learn (Biblical) Greek?
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Aug 24 13:42:37 EDT 2007
I've given this sort of pep talk to first meetings of a Greek class
several times; my experience is that it's never had much effect,
either as an exhortation or as a deterrent (I have tried to deter
those who imagine they can learn Greek without industry and energetic
application). I haven't dealt specifically with Biblical Greek
because, where I taught, we required those interested in NT Greek to
do one year of Classical Attic first before doing a tutorial class in
reading Biblical Greek texts -- and those students came into Biblical
Greek reasonably well prepared and knowing exactly what was required
on their part. When giving the pep talk to first-year students in
Classical Attic, I always had the impression that this preliminary
talk had not deterred those who weren't prepared to work beyond the
point at which they would inevitably drop out, partly because they
wouldn't believe what I said about the effort involved or really
thought they could get by with minimal effort.
As for the two kinds of students and their goals, I won't conceal
that I think it's pointless to study Greek without any intention of
mastering it. Those who endeavor to learn just enough Biblical Greek
to "learn how to intelligently use commentaries and reference works
that will produce more beneficial Bible study with minimal knowledge
of New Testament Greek," are likely to rely upon interlinears or
parsing guides and glossary-type vocabularies in print or digital for
whatever Biblical study they're going to do. They will not be
deterred by exhortations to do more than that, and they probably
won't ever understand what is meant by the saying, "A little Greek is
a dangerous thing."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
On Aug 24, 2007, at 1:39 AM, Aesop Coordinator wrote:
> I am putting a presentation together for the start of a new year
> teaching
> Greek. I would like to have a number of talking points (a list) of
> what are
> the motivational and practical benefits for a person to read the
> Greek New
> Testament in the original. These classes will be in a number churches
> around our metropolitan area. Earlier discussions have brought up
> that
> there may be at least two types of students who may be in the class:
>
> 1. Those who want to read and study the Greek NT
>
> 2. Those who want to study the NT with reference to the Greek.
>
>
>
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/b-greek/2007-August/044010.html
>
>
>
> The ultimate goal of the first type of student is to read and think in
> (bibilical) Greek (my goal for them is read, read, read..)
>
> The minimal goal of the second type of student is to "learn how to
> intelligently use commentaries and reference works that will
> produce more
> beneficial Bible study with minimal knowledge of New Testament
> Greek." (some
> would say, 'Buy a good translation')
>
>
>
> I don't have a lot of introductory Greek books which have a clear
> breakdown
> of the various reasons a student of the Bible should learn Greek. Any
> references to such books would be also be appreciated. I remember
> reading
> an introduction in one book which said that one of the issues why the
> drop-out rate can be so high for new students is because they go
> into the
> class with false expectations. I also remember reading (on the b-
> greek list
> about a year ago) that it takes about 500(?) hours to learn a
> language and
> 1500(?) hours of study to somewhat master it. A list of false
> expectations
> and realistic expectations may also of benefit to many as a number
> of us on
> b-greek will be starting to teach classes in the next several
> weeks. I've
> just started putting this list together.
>
>
>
> Talking Points (Why Learn Greek?):
>
> 1) The main benefit is seeing the structure and word choices
> which are
> often unable to be paralleled in any translation
>
> 2) To Read only what the NT authors wrote - not an
> interpretation of
> what they wrote.
>
> 3) To understand the confidence we can have in the identity of
> the NT
> text.
>
> 4) ..
>
>
>
> Expectations of new students learning NT Greek (False and True)
>
> 1. Knowing Greek will allow one to discover secrets that are
> hidden in
> translations of the Bible.
>
> 2. One year of Greek will allow one to fully read the NT in
> Greek
>
> 3. The NT is written in a special type of Greek language
> which can be
> studied by itself without reference to other Greek secular writings.
>
> 4. ...
>
>
>
> Louis Sorenson
>
> Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list