[B-Greek] "Sunday School Greek"

David Opderbeck dopderbeck at gmail.com
Tue Jan 23 08:52:32 EST 2007


Let me offer the perspective of one who is just starting to try to learn
some Greek as a lay person.  I have no pretension of being able to do
serious original translation work based on the study to which I'm able to
commit (I do, after all, have a family and a day job).  What I hope to
achieve in the near term, however, is enough facility that when I read a
serious Bible commentary or journal article that deals with the Greek text,
I at least have some idea what the author is talking about.  Already I'm
delighted that I've learned the alphabet so I can read words written in
Greek, that I've picked up a bit of vocabulary, and that I've learned enough
about the case endings of nouns to know what a commentary means when it
mentions that a word is in the genetive, etc.  Just this little bit of
insight gives me a better feel for the primary scholarship that I rely on in
my personal Bible study and lay church work.  Some day, perhaps, I'll have
the opportunity for more intense study in a seminary setting, and then at
least I'll be able to hit the ground running.  But for now, to me, a "Sunday
School" level of language study seems a very reasonable and valuable
pursuit, which could benefit anyone who is serious about studying and
applying the Bible but who is not called or situated to pursue full-time
professional scholarship.


On 1/23/07, Carl W. Conrad <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu> wrote:
>
> Suzanne McCarthy, some of whose previous posts in the blogosphere I
> have noted in this forum, has a piece that she posted Sunday on the
> Better Bibles Blog with the rubric I have indicated in my subject-
> header above
> (http://englishbibles.blogspot.com/2007/01/sunday-school-greek.html)
>
> I am reluctant to stir the pot again regarding the whole pedagogical
> quick-fix methodologies for acquiring enough Greek to confront the
> Biblical Greek text in a meaningful and fruitful way, but it's not as
> if the topic is going to go away, while human nature remains what it
> is. The comment I appended to Suzanne's blog-post follows:
> ----
>     I shake my head, old curmudgeon that I am and a retired
> professor of Greek whose last classroom experience was a January 20-
> session crash course in Biblical Greek for seminary students. Of my
> 13 students two did quite well, considering the nature and
> limitations of the course. But these were seminary students who had
> to have this course to get into the school's first exegesis class. I
> agree with Peter [Peter Kirk, who posted a previous comment] that the
> dedicated student with application and industry can make a very
> significant start within a short time, but very few are likely to
> succeed -- precisely because the application and industry required
> are just not there. Aside from that, whatever is accomplished, be it
> in three successive days, once a week, or in the course of one month,
> is only a beginning and the beginner needs to be aware that the
> beginning demands an ongoing commitment. Anything less really
> deserves -- I think -- disparagment. What Euclid (I think) said of
> geometry is certainly as true for Biblical Greek: "There is no royal
> road ... "
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> 1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
> cwconrad2 at mac.com
> WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
>
>
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>



-- 
David W. Opderbeck
Web:  http://www.davidopderbeck.com
Blog:  http://www.davidopderbeck.com/throughaglass.html
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