[B-Greek] The Elephant on the List

Sarah Madden sarah.r.madden at gmail.com
Fri Feb 19 07:30:46 EST 2010


Ted --
In addition to just simply ENJOYING reading the Greek text for its own
value, I find that your point about being able to notice when
teachers/preachers misuse the language is well-taken. I still remember when
I was a first-semester Greek student, faithfully bringing my Greek text to
church, even if all I could read was KAI.

In a Sunday School class, someone was teaching in Romans, I think, but had
not brought his Greek text with him. He started hammering a certain point --
but his conclusion required the verb's number to be plural, I think, but the
Greek seemed to me to have a singular verb (or maybe it was the reverse).
Being a newbie in Greek translation, I certainly wasn't even sure if I was
right, and waited until everyone else had left the room. I then asked him to
look at the text -- he blanched and said he just "assumed" it was plural ...
the ironic thing is that this man was in the process of getting his
doctorate at a respected institution-- in Biblical languages!  Years later,
I bumped into him again, and he actually remembered that little conversation
... "out of the mouths of little children" (or, Greek newbies).

If nothing else, perhaps this mght have encouraged him to be careful about
veering off of his prepared notes, or at least to bring his Greek text with
him when he teaches ...

Sarah ><>
(aka Hawkey Pierce)
Maryland




On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 1:26 PM, <theomann at comcast.net> wrote:

>
>
> Mark L. wrote:
>
>
>
> <“The biggest Urban legend of all is when the preacher gets up and says:
> All the translations get this wrong.  What the Greek really says is…” The
> truth is exactly opposite; all the translations get it right.
>
> _________________________________
>
>
>
>      Well, I'm not certain this is exactly right, although I'm always wary
> of anyone who says, "What this really means in the Greek is...," especially
> if their known skills don't extend beyond Strong's Concordance.  I'm
> guessing that  some translations probably get it better than others.  But,
> in most cases at least,  if several reputable translations (as defined by
> the scholars one trusts ) of a given passage are examined, I think  the
> reader will probably come away with  a pretty accurate and complete grasp
> of its meaning, without having to spend untold hours in the classroom .
>
>      Perhaps two of the better reasons for studying biblical languages are
> the ability to understand when preachers and Sunday School teachers are
> misusing the languages, and the ability to grasp some of the more technical
> explanations provided by biblical language experts, like those who
> faithfully contribute to bGreek.
>
>
>
> Ted
>
>
>
> Theodore H. Mann
>
> theomann at comcast.net
>
> ---
>  B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
>



-- 
Sarah ><>
sarah.r.madden at gmail.com
work: 301.429.8189



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