[B-Greek] Using Greek
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Mar 11 12:32:09 EDT 2009
I am assuming that this was meant for the list, since Ted speaks of me
in the third-person rather than addresses me in the second. (CWC)
Begin forwarded message:
> From: theomann at comcast.net
> Date: March 11, 2009 11:10:50 AM EDT
> To: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Using Greek
>
> I agree with Carl's comments. Like many others, I hoped that
> studying Greek would enhance my grasp of "the deeper things" of
> scripture. Eventually I learned that most, if not all of the issues
> that exist beneath the surface in Greek, have been written about in
> English (and other languages) somewhere, and one doesn't need to
> know Greek in order to have access to them. Many of them are
> available right here on b-Greek, and other translation sites. Also,
> in order to gain access to those kinds of issues by reading Greek,
> one has to be VERY GOOD AT IT. A few semesters, or even a few years
> of Greek won't do it. The greatest benefits I have derived from my
> efforts to read the language have been the ability to understand
> something of what qualified Greek scholars say or write about, an
> awareness of the many errors pastors and teachers make when they say
> things like, "This term, in the Greek, means... ," but most of all
> the simple enjoyment of the process of learning the language. I
> study Greek because I enjoy it.
>
> Ted Mann
> theomann at comcast.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
> To: ebyon at sbcglobal.net
> Cc: "B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 7:46:07 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
> Eastern
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Using Greek
>
>
> On Mar 10, 2009, at 10:20 PM, Stephen Lord wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> I suspect you will receive quite a range of responses to your question
> or that whatever responses there are will show many different views.
> For my part, I think (a) that one needs to know Koine Greek pretty
> well if one is really going to better understand and interpret the NT:
> it is much more than a matter of parsing the words and picking out the
> glosses in one's own language that match the context; one needs to
> know the basic syntactic patterns of Koine Greek and the ranges of
> meaning of basic lexicographical items in context. An interlinear may
> let you look at the text and see "men like trees walking" but not a
> clear and distinct perception of what the text is communicating. I
> think also (b) that the attitude and approach that one brings to bear
> on reading the Greek; an open mind to alternative possibilities
> allowed by the grammatical rules/patterns of Koine Greek, that certain
> thoughtfulness (some will want to identify this with guidance of the
> Spirit) which opens eyes and mind to what is being communicated in a
> long-dead dialect of an alien language in a text composed in a
> radically different world ages ago. To rephrase it, I think that
> without some real competence in Koine Greek and an appropriate mind-
> set when approaching the GNT, one might really be better off working
> with good versions (preferably more than one) in one's own native
> language.
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
>
> ---
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
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