[B-Greek] Reading The Philosophers in Greek and other extra Biblcal reading
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Feb 25 21:40:06 EST 2009
On Feb 25, 2009, at 9:05 PM, Stephen Baldwin wrote:
>
> Brethren:
> A marginally off-topic question.
> In reading theology books, much discussion mentions and quotes the
> Greek philosophers.
> I just wondered whether it is idiotic for an amateur Koine minnow to
> dip into the philosophers (Plato, Socrates etc.) in their original
> Greek and hope to make anything at all from it? I'm not studying for
> a PhD or presenting a conference paper. It is more-or-less just for
> fun.
>
> If the idea is not entirely off the wall, are there particular
> editions aimed at the less competent amongst us?
>
> A supplementary question too:
> When reading the GNT, it is very difficult, once one has fixed the
> passage, not to guess and assume meanings -- because one is
> subconsciously hearing the familiar English as one reads the Greek,
> and anticipating the meaning of the Greek which of course is a
> capital offence. Reading brand-new stuff is a way round that
> problem. So I was going to ask: Outside of the GNT, where is a good
> place to start reading other Koine? I presume the Fathers? Are some
> easier than others?
There are many possibilities, but one of the very best is Epictetus;
he's contemporary with the composition of the GNT and much of what he
talks about (the text is supposedly a transcript of his talks) is
along the lines of what the moral instruction of the GNT talks about.
And our esteemed list-member Louis Sorenson has collected much of this
material and even created an Epictetus reading group, now finished,
but all the wonderful materials that he compiled are still there to
use and enjoy. See what's there at:
http://www.letsreadgreek.com/Epictetus/index.htm
Randall Buth has a booklet and CD that allows study as well as hearing
in Koine pronunciation two discourses of Epictetus: Epictetus, Two
Conversations:
"Against the Academics and On Familial Love" Greek-English Diglot with
1 MP3 CD, a steal at $25. Go to:
http://www.biblicalulpan.com/
click on "Online Orders" and scroll down to it
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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