[B-Greek] EXAGORAZOMENOS TON KAIRON (was The BANE of Biblical Greek Pedagogy)
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Wed Feb 23 19:45:26 EST 2011
David wrote
<Perhaps the real BANE of Biblical Greek Pedagogy is time (i.e. the lack
thereof).>
Hi, David,
I agree, but if you try to teach yourself to use Ancient Greek as a living
language, it opens up all sorts of time you have throughout the day that you
cannot use for just reading Greek or reading about Greek. You can listen to
Greek while you wash the dishes. You can talk to your dog in Greek while taking
him on a walk. (βλεπε τον δενδρον, ω κυον!) You can translate songs you hear on
the radio into Greek and you can sing them while you drive. If you have to take
notes at a staff meeting, you can take them in Greek. If you have time to text
a friend, there is no reason why you cannot text him in Greek. You can practice
speaking Greek to yourself while making copies or waiting for an elevator or
watering the plants. Paul in another context called this εξαγοραζομενος τον
καιρον. (Eph 5:16)
Carl wrote:
<...one of the most fascinating exercises we ever had was converting the NY
Times editorial endorsing Kennedy for President into Ciceronian Latin in the
Fall of 1960.>
Then you probably know what is Latin for "He came. He saw. He looks better on
television."
Mark L
Φωσφορος
FWSFOROS MARKOS
________________________________
From: "davidabooth at comcast.net" <davidabooth at comcast.net>
To: Richard Smith <rbs58 at comcast.net>
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wed, February 23, 2011 6:45:26 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] The BANE of Biblical Greek Pedagogy
Perhaps the real BANE of Biblical Greek Pedagogy is time (i.e. the lack
thereof).
Machen's New Testament Greek for Beginners was designed for a remedial class of
seminary students who couldn't already read Attic Greek. As for himself, Machen
began studying Latin at 11 and Greek at 14 which he continued to study through
college prior to entering Princeton Theological Seminary. Today, very few
students enter seminary capable of reading Greek, so the remedial patch has
become the norm.
If a student is going to only take two to three semesters of Greek he isn't
going to become a competent reader of the NT no matter how good t he pedagogy
is.
David
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