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Policy: Scope of B-Greek

Posted: September 28th, 2021, 7:41 am
by Jonathan Robie
We have had a number of questions about the scope of B-Greek - what is appropriate to discuss here? The moderators have decided to both clarify and relax the scope.

Fundamentally, B-Greek is for people who know Greek or are actively learning it. Understanding a text often means bringing in many kinds of information that are not about Greek syntax, and we want to allow that, but we also want focused discussion among people who know Greek and pay attention to the language. Those who do not know Greek should post in the Beginner's forum. When discussing a Greek text, discussion must focus on the Greek text, not on modern language translations or theological controversies.

We also discuss Greek language and linguistics, teaching and learning Greek, and a variety of other topics. Up to now, we have been very reluctant to discuss textual criticism. We have decided to be more open to discussing textual criticism issues, but we do want to avoid ideological debates. Similarly, we have been reluctant to discuss translation. We have decided to be more open to discussing the process of translation and the issues that arise when translating a text into a different language, culture, and time, but we want to avoid debates about broad generalities ("literal versus dynamic") or debates about which translation is the best ("the Suess Revised Version is infinitely better than the New Shakespeare Translation!")

In general, we prefer discussion that generates more light than heat and we insist on respect and courtesy to other forum members. We have a "no jerk" policy on B-Greek.

See also: