[B-Greek] Using Greek

James Spinti JSpinti at Eisenbrauns.com
Wed Mar 11 12:15:12 EDT 2009


How about a few illustrations from recently?

Last night two of us were reading in Romans 7. In the course of two verses, Paul used KATERERGAZOMAI, PRASSW (PRATTW), and POIEW; the English in all three cases used "do" as the gloss. In that same sequence he used GINWSKW and OIDA, too; again the English used the same word: "know" as the gloss for both. 

A few weeks earlier, we had noticed in Romans 5 that Paul used (h)AMARTIA, ASEBHS, PARABASIS, and PARAPTWMA (and ASQENHS) describe the human condition. The English had a hard time distinguishing the four.

Earth shattering? No. Interesting? Yes. But, without the Greek, those nuances would have been lost.

Examples like this could be multiplied many times over. The English is adequate, but the Greek (and Hebrew) fill in the picture so much better.

James

________________________________
James Spinti
Marketing Director, Book Sales Division
Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 30 years
Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies
jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com
Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com
Phone: 574-269-2011 ext 226
Fax: 574-269-6788 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Lord
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 10:20 PM
To: B-Greek
Subject: [B-Greek] Using Greek

We've all encountered someone who was dismissive of the utility of knowing or exploring Greek in an effort to better understand and interpret the NT.  I'm curious how list members would or have responded to such an attitude.

Respectfully,

Stephen C. Lord

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