[B-Greek] referential complexity: frames & scenarios and Galatians 6:18
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Apr 25 11:01:53 EDT 2010
On Apr 25, 2010, at 10:39 AM, yancywsmith at sbcglobal.net wrote:
> Randall EGRAYE:
>> Students will be better
>> off, more on-target and in-the-ball-park, working from multiple English
>> translations done by qualified, skilled translators. And with a little
>> training in order to appreciate the various translations vis-a-vis
>> 'wooden glosses'.
>>
>> Personally, I don't see any other route than to learn Greek well if
>> someone wants to be a skilled, lifelong, interpreter of ancient
>> Greek literature and the NT in particular.
>>
>> If you love Cervantes, learn Spanish fluently. If you love Schiller,
>> learn German fluently. If you love the Bard, learn English fluently.
>> If you love Jesus, learn Greek fluently (Hebrew fluently too).
>> And learn analytical tools in parallel to the language skills.
>
>
> I couldn't agree more. Since I work as a consultant in BT, people often ask me, "What is the best translation"? My first response is always, "The Bible translation you actually want to read." But when pressed, I say, "Pick three or four translations: your favorite and three others with approaches different from your own." If you like a paraphrase, pick a literal translation, If you are a Protestant, pick a Roman Catholic translation or if you are a Christian, pick a Jewish translation for the OT. The value of using a variety of translations with distinct approaches is the potential it creates for questioning the ruts we tend to get into when studying the Bible.
>
> For Greek in NT exegesis (as well as linguistics) Pope's quote is a great rule of thumb:
>
> A little learning is a dangerous thing;
> Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;
> There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
> And drinking largely sobers us again.
Inasmuch as we're in a "citing" mood this morning,
it should be noted that this is an ancient
commonplace, from Tinkers to Evers to Chance, er,
that is, from Cratinus to Horace to Pope:
Prisco si credis, Maecenas docte, Cratino,
nulla placere diu nec vivere carmina possunt,
quae scribuntur aquae potoribus ...
Horace, Epistulae 1.19.1-3.
roughly, "My learned friend Maecenas, if you'll take it from
Cratinus of old [predecessor in comedy to Aristophanes], poems
cannot gratify or become classics if they're composed by teetotallers."
CWC
> On Apr 25, 2010, at 4:11 AM, Randall Buth wrote:
>
>> Students will be better
>> off, more on-target and in-the-ball-park, working from multiple English
>> translations done by qualified, skilled translators. And with a little
>> training in order to appreciate the various translations vis-a-vis
>> 'wooden glosses'.
>>
>> Personally, I don't see any other route than to learn Greek well if
>> someone wants to be a skilled, lifelong, interpreter of ancient
>> Greek literature and the NT in particular.
>>
>> If you love Cervantes, learn Spanish fluently. If you love Schiller,
>> learn German fluently. If you love the Bard, learn English fluently.
>> If you love Jesus, learn Greek fluently (Hebrew fluently too).
>> And learn analytical tools in parallel to the language skills.
>
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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