[B-Greek] Greek for laymen

Raymond Regalado fwgk5942 at mb.infoweb.ne.jp
Mon Mar 8 10:04:55 EST 2004


> In a message dated 3/8/2004 9:02:25 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu writes:
> I would agree that Waldo's "advice" is extreme; the problem with 
> acquiring
> "a feel" for Biblical Greek is one that we've noted several 
> times--learning
> "enough Greek to be dangerous": there are some who learn "a little 
> Greek"
> and want to demonstrate what they know--or don't know.

<snip>

I just finished reading an interesting article by Dr. Rod Decker called 
"How Do We Use the Biblical Languages?" (cf. his web site).  In a 
section on "Minimalism vs. Maximalism" he gives Wuest -- "The King of 
Maximalism" -- as an example of how an exegete can give too much 
significance to the grammatical elements of a language, so much so that 
the "exegesis" actually becomes eisegesis.  Anyway, what struck me was 
the seeming possibility that a scholar can know *so much* Greek (at 
least I assume Wuest knew a lot of Greek) and yet not know how to use 
it properly (at least, according to the "minimalists")!  So, maybe it's 
not just a question of knowing a little Greek or knowing a lot of 
Greek.  Maybe something else is necessary to use the knowledge to 
understand the Greek Text properly.  Perhaps what is needed is a "feel" 
for the language? ;-)  I just wonder how there can be such a thing (an 
error?) as "Maximalism".  Where did the scholarly world go wrong?  I 
still remember how I was first convinced of "cessationism" -- it was 
through hearing a very interesting and convincing sermon on the 
significance of PAUW being in the middle voice in 1 Cor 13:8...

Kind Regards,

Raymond Regalado
Tokyo, Japan




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