[B-Greek] Using Greek
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Wed Mar 11 12:22:58 EDT 2009
Talk about misparsings:
I got excited when I saw the thread 'using Greek',
I thought it meant using Greek for communication, in or out
of a classroom.
Yancy's notes are on target, though 'using Greek' will allow a
quicker access into the sources he mentions.
ERRWSQE
Randall Buth
> I think it all depends upon what we mean by "using" Greek. If by
"using Greek" we mean looking at a Greek New Testament, critical
apparatus, commentaries, lexica, etc. to translate the Greek text of
the New Testament and perhaps compare our own translation with others'
translations, I would say that the pay-off of such a practice in
actually better understanding the New Testament will be quite limited.
Our own secondary communication context will dictate and limit our
understanding. The bang for our buck will be relatively weak over all.
I remember my reaction after studying Greek for four years in
undergraduate school, the fifth year was a course in classical Greek
readings with selections from Homer, Herodotus, Plato and Xenophon.
That was when "the lights went on" for me I began to have more context
for understanding the New Testament. However, a shorter route to
understanding the culture is to pick up some theoretically astute
author like Bruce Malina, The New Testament World, David daSilva,
Honor, Patronage, Kinship and Purity: Unlocking New Testament.
Culture or the encylopedic Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early
Christianity (or all three), and read primary sources in translation
(say, Epictetus, Lucian, Athanaeus, Plutarch, the Septuagint,
Josephus). That will give you, over all, greater bang for your buck as
far an "understanding" is concerned and may even motivate you to learn
the language than a number of years "using Greek" with the typical
tools to do translation of the New Testametn. I am not knocking
translation, that is what I do for a living. But using Greek to read
the culture in which the New Testament was formed will greatly, if not
quickly, enhance an understanding of the New Testament in ways that
neither translation or history and culture study alone cannot do.
Yancy Smith
yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net
5636 Wedgworth Rd.
Fort Worth, TX 76133
817-361-7565
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth at gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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