[B-Greek] You Are Smarter Than a Lexicon (?) The beat goes on...
+Fr Patrick B O'Grady
fatherpatrick at fastmail.fm
Fri Jun 4 21:06:06 EDT 2010
I desire to weigh in on this thread, if there is any fibre left in it.
I learned Classical and Biblical Greek in the old-fashioned way... lots
of hard work, drill, and memorization. My experience in teaching others
has shown me that NO MATTER WHAT method, the single most important
criterion for success is longevity of effort. It just seems to be that
simple.
Exposure to real Greek from the earliest moment, combined with the flush
of reward the student experiences when (s)he actually *gets it* from
time to time. It's amazing how much difficulty, how many resorts to the
lexicon, etc., MUST be borne by any successful student.
Here's the bad news, as I read it. Computer software tends to suggest
that students can find a short-cut. It just don't work!
On Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:59:31 -0400, "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
said:
>
> On Jun 4, 2010, at 6:31 PM, Larry Heflin wrote:
>
> > I think the chorus is singing a rather cynical tune regarding the motive of the people who offer such tools and also of those who may use them. I just can't bring myself to share the indignation. It's a struggle enough to get people to read the Scriptures in their native language, so if someone has enough interest to dabble in the originals I will not discourage it. It's more likely to lead to something good than bad. Most of the people I know that are motivated enough to take an interest in such tools would not operate under the delusion that they are language experts, nor would they represent themselves as such simply because they do word studies, etc. They tend to recognize and give due respect to what is genuine based on more than the ability to sprinkle a message with a Greek word or two, or the pounding of an interlinear on a pulpit. There always has been and there always will be the dupees and the dupers. Historically, those who present
> > the greatest threat have always been those with genuine skills who harm other experts as well as the sheep. If I may express my own cynicism, I am more cynical of those who walk the hallowed halls of acedemia than of those who built them. And if I might trespass into theology, hell no doubt is full of people fluent in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, etc, and has no shortage of experts (1 Cor. 1:26-29). Or, maybe this is all just academic.
>
> I grant that the tone has been cynical: the product promises so much and
> looks too good to be true -- nothing raises suspicions more quickly than
> that.
>
> I grant too that charlatans are to be found in academia as elsewhere. I
> myself am dismayed when I see opinions being offered by self-proclaimed
> Ph.D's without cogent arguments and convincing evidence. And I
> acknowledge that most congregations know better than to be impressed by
> Greek-word-dropping in sermons. Dupers and dupees are indeed, as Barnum
> acknowledged, "born every minute."
>
> My own sour note in this thread has not been triggered so much by this
> particular piece of software being offered for pre-sale as by the trend
> it represents -- the seemingly relentless diminution of expectation and
> desire on the part of seminarians and lay students to acquire solid
> competence in Biblical Greek.
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>
>
>
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