[B-Greek] Using Greek
frank boumphrey
koinebible at gmail.com
Wed Mar 11 13:09:06 EDT 2009
I would have to say that my feelings were closer to Randall's than Carls. If
one speaks more than one (modern) language one quickly realizes that the
reason Americans are so awful at languages is that they try and 'translate'
the other language, even British English, into American. I believe that if
one starts off with the attitude "I want to learn this language, not just
how to translate it" one can get real benefit at a very early stage,
although of course very few of us will ever add to the 'scholarship' of the
language.
FWIW my own feelings on the suject can be read at:
http://www.biblegreek.net/lentgreek/index.php
Frank
On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 12:22 PM, Randall Buth <randallbuth at gmail.com>wrote:
> 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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