[B-Greek] Using Greek

Greg Sahlstrom gs at stormlash.net
Fri Mar 13 16:00:58 EDT 2009


Alexander Ring,

I like your illustration in which you compare reading Greek versus  
English New Testament to watching a color versus black and white tv.

Bart Ehrman makes a similar point in his book "Misquoting  
Jesus" (page 219):

"My friend Jeff Siker syas that reading the New Testament in Greek is  
like seeing it in color, whereas reading it in translation is like  
seeing it in black and white: one gets the point but misses a lot of  
the nuances."

Greg Sahlstrom

On Mar 11, 2009, at 11:20 AM, Alexander Ring wrote:

> I have always responded that you don't need Greek to understand the
> NT; any good translation will make it accessible, just as any good
> translation makes The Iliad accessible. What I do say though is
> reading the NT in English is like watching black & white tv. You get
> the picture and all the dialogue and you understand what is
> happening; the story is all there. Reading it in Greek is like
> watching color tv; suddenly another dimension is added and I'm seeing
> things I didn't notice at first. The story hasn't changed, but my
> appreciation (and often understanding) has deepened. (Although I've
> been thinking that with the advent of HDTV and Blu-Ray, maybe I need
> to change my analogy.)
>
> I also take moments to point out in Bible classes where knowledge of
> the Greek impacts our understanding of certain texts. Not in an
> obnoxious way (I hope), but reminding them this really shouldn't be
> an option.
>
> Alex
>
> On Mar 10, 2009, at 7:20 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.
>
> Rev. Alexander Ring
> 11221 Farwest Dr
> Lakewood, WA  98498
>
> akring at mac.com
>
> It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a
> resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to
> physics and chemistry.
> - H. L. Mencken
>
>
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