Mark Goodacre notes a number of songs available to assist people learning the Greek alphabet. My favorite is probably this one; I might even add it to iTunes! But here are two others; the first is significantly more entertaining (and more accurate) than the second:
[If you're in my Elementary Greek class, do NOT follow this video's pronunciation!]
For the sake of completeness, those of you who are interested in all things alphabet should check out the recent debate concerning the origins of the alphabet. The relevant articles are linked to on PaleoJudaica (and follow the links).
[HT: Mark Goodacre]
Showing posts with label New Testament Greek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Testament Greek. Show all posts
Friday, September 03, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Bible review
Over on Exploring Our Matrix, James McGrath has offered a helpful (and positive) review of my booty. (For those of you too unmotivated to follow the links, James has reviewed Zondervan's A Reader's Hebrew and Greek Bible, not any part of my personage.) At a list price of $74.99, I can understand if this volume is beyond most people's budget. But a little online research can find it on offer—new, even—for less than $45.00.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
ringing in the Fall 2009 term
Today is the first day of Fall 2009 classes for undergraduate students at Johnson Bible College. It should be a great semester; last night we had a successful Convocation ceremony and dedicated the new Russell Preaching Center (which houses my new office and into which the entire Distance Learning department moved over the summer). Very sheik, or sheek, or sheak . . . they're nice.
Today is also the first of three days of orientation for new students in the MA New Testament program. Though their semester began 10 July, students come onto campus now to . . . well, be oriented to the program. Since this is a distance learning program, we won't see many of you until you're finishing up your degree. But we hope this is the beginning of a vibrant and inquisitive relationship.
As we start this new term I can't help but be humbled by the realization that a number of institutions of higher education that kicked off the Spring 2009 semester last January closed their doors over the summer and aren't gearing up for 2009-2010. Some of you have made that difficult transition; others are still in the thick of it. My prayers are with you.
Best of luck to all of JBC's students, whether new, returning, or transfer. For my part, I'm teaching Elementary Greek, a first-year Gospel Narratives course, two courses in the graduate program, and I'm taking Intermediate Hebrew I. Structuring Early Christian Memory should be published by the SBL Annual meeting, and I have a number of book reviews in various states of progress. A number of projects were on hold this summer as I revised most of my course materials for this semester, and I hope to pick them up again in the coming weeks. But there's much to do for the Spring 2010 term, so I'm only marginally hopeful. Here's to work completed, work in progress, and work we hope to one day get to.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
on the allure of learning Greek
Every year around this time (well, in a couple weeks) I ask my students why they decided to commit the time and energy, endure the frustrations, and (even) suffer the stigmata involved in learning New Testament Greek. There are about half-a-dozen typical answers (and usually one or two from out past left field), but one answer is far and away the most popular: "I want to read God's Word in its original language." A little digging reveals an awareness, impressive coming from nineteen-year-olds if not clearly articulated, that reading the Bible in translation entails depending on a layer (or several layers) of translation. If "the Bible" is God's Word, the NIV is a translation committee's mediation of God's Word. The same goes, mutatis mutandis, for the NASB, NRSV, NLT, etc. etc. etc.
Very early in my own experiences as a Greek student, however, I realized that things were a bit more complicated. I learned from D. A. Black's Learn to Read New Testament Greek (now available in a third edition, with an accompanying workbook), the same text I use ten years later in my own course. And as I learned that βαπτίζω means I baptize and ὁ ὄχλος means crowd, I realized that I was exchanging a translation committee's mediation of the texts' meaning(s) for Prof. Black's. Could I ever close the door to the rest of the world and sit—just me and the text—alone with God's Word?
The problem, of course, is that I never read any text alone, whether the New Testament in Greek or the newspaper in English. I've always learned how to interact with texts from others and with others, and even in the solitude of my office or at home I invoke them in my reading of those texts. I don't depend on Prof. Black to understand the nuances of Greek vocabulary, of course; my exposure to and experiences with a variety of Greek texts and lexica have broadened and deepened my knowledge base. And though I feel relatively free (not completely, though) of any of the popular translation committees, I'm more aware than ever that I read the texts as one part of a larger community, one which includes members of translation committees, compilers and editors of lexica, text critics, philologists, exegetes and expositors, homileticians, and a host of others.
Even so, I still long for—strive after, even—an unmediated experience of the text. I want to experience it first-hand, to read it "for myself," to know it face-to-face rather than dimly, through a glass. And I see my longing reflected in Moses' request to see God's glory (Exod 33). And as I finish up Barry Schwartz's book, Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era, I see it reflected, and partially realized, in Sigmund Freud's reaction to the Acropolis:
The challenge, it seems to me, is to stop teaching my students about the Acropolis and to bring them to it—to stop [merely] teaching them Greek so that they can read the Greek texts at some point in the future and to bring them in contact with the texts themselves.
Very early in my own experiences as a Greek student, however, I realized that things were a bit more complicated. I learned from D. A. Black's Learn to Read New Testament Greek (now available in a third edition, with an accompanying workbook), the same text I use ten years later in my own course. And as I learned that βαπτίζω means I baptize and ὁ ὄχλος means crowd, I realized that I was exchanging a translation committee's mediation of the texts' meaning(s) for Prof. Black's. Could I ever close the door to the rest of the world and sit—just me and the text—alone with God's Word?
The problem, of course, is that I never read any text alone, whether the New Testament in Greek or the newspaper in English. I've always learned how to interact with texts from others and with others, and even in the solitude of my office or at home I invoke them in my reading of those texts. I don't depend on Prof. Black to understand the nuances of Greek vocabulary, of course; my exposure to and experiences with a variety of Greek texts and lexica have broadened and deepened my knowledge base. And though I feel relatively free (not completely, though) of any of the popular translation committees, I'm more aware than ever that I read the texts as one part of a larger community, one which includes members of translation committees, compilers and editors of lexica, text critics, philologists, exegetes and expositors, homileticians, and a host of others.
Even so, I still long for—strive after, even—an unmediated experience of the text. I want to experience it first-hand, to read it "for myself," to know it face-to-face rather than dimly, through a glass. And I see my longing reflected in Moses' request to see God's glory (Exod 33). And as I finish up Barry Schwartz's book, Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era, I see it reflected, and partially realized, in Sigmund Freud's reaction to the Acropolis:
When, finally, on the afternoon after our arrival, I stood upon the Acropolis and cast my eyes around upon the landscape, a remarkable thought suddenly entered my mind: 'So all this really does exist, just as we learnt in school!' Or it would be possible to maintain that when I was a schoolboy I had thought I was convinced of the historic reality of the city of Athens and its history, but that the occurrence of this idea on the Acropolis had precisely shown that . . . I had not believed in it . . . ! (cited in Schwartz 2008: 250)
The challenge, it seems to me, is to stop teaching my students about the Acropolis and to bring them to it—to stop [merely] teaching them Greek so that they can read the Greek texts at some point in the future and to bring them in contact with the texts themselves.
Friday, July 10, 2009
what do the disciples do on their twelve thrones?
I'm writing a lesson on Jesus' selection of and relationship to the Twelve (disciples, that is), and I'm having to make a decision about the phrase, καθήσεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπὶ δώδεκα θρόνους κρίνοντες τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ (Matt 19.28; see Luke 22.30). If your Greek isn't where you'd like it to be, the traditional understanding of this phrase is "You, also, will sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (my italics). The question concerns the italicized participle, judging, which translates the participial κρίνοντες [krinontes].
The BDAG lexicon offers a lengthy discussion of κρίνω, with usages ranging from "to make a selection" (with glosses select, prefer) and on to "to pass judgment upon," whether in cognitive senses (with glosses such as decide, think, consider, etc.) or in judicial senses (with glosses such as judge, decide, condemn, etc.). The very last usage, "to ensure justice for someone" (gloss see to it that justice is done), lists only 1 Clem 8.4 and Isa 1.17 [LXX] as examples. Louw and Nida don't offer an equivalent for this last usage; they give the glosses decide, prefer, evaluate, hold a view, make legal decision, condemn, and rule. But they list Luke 22.30 under this last domain, rendering the passage, "and you will be seated upon thrones, ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel" (§37.49, my emphasis). In their view, then, κρίνω here involves far more than simply "judging." BDAG discusses this verse under the usage "to engage in a judicial process" (with the glosses judge, decide, hale before a court, condemn, and hand over for judicial punishment [see §5.b.β]), saying "occupied by those who have been divinely commissioned to judge: the 12 apostles judge the 12 tribes." They do add the caveat, "But here κ[ρίνω] could have the broader sense rule" (s.v.), but their preference is clear.
I find myself siding, with some fear and trepidation, against BDAG and with Louw and Nida. I am largely convinced by Richard Horsley's argument, in Jesus and the Spiral of Violence (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987, 199–207), that this passage should be translated, "You yourselves will also sit on twelve thrones saving (or effecting justice for) the twelve tries of Israel." Horsley doesn't discussion Matt 12.18, 20 in this regard, but he could have. In that passage the evangelist cites a lengthy passage from Isaiah 42 (in a text-form closer to our MT readings than to the LXX), which twice uses the cognate noun κρίσις [krisis] clearly in the sense of "justice":
I don't think Matthew 12 makes the case for Matt 19.28 (and certainly it doesn't for Luke 22.28–30), but I think it at least gives us a solid basis for understanding the κριν- root in terms of justice or restoration.
The BDAG lexicon offers a lengthy discussion of κρίνω, with usages ranging from "to make a selection" (with glosses select, prefer) and on to "to pass judgment upon," whether in cognitive senses (with glosses such as decide, think, consider, etc.) or in judicial senses (with glosses such as judge, decide, condemn, etc.). The very last usage, "to ensure justice for someone" (gloss see to it that justice is done), lists only 1 Clem 8.4 and Isa 1.17 [LXX] as examples. Louw and Nida don't offer an equivalent for this last usage; they give the glosses decide, prefer, evaluate, hold a view, make legal decision, condemn, and rule. But they list Luke 22.30 under this last domain, rendering the passage, "and you will be seated upon thrones, ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel" (§37.49, my emphasis). In their view, then, κρίνω here involves far more than simply "judging." BDAG discusses this verse under the usage "to engage in a judicial process" (with the glosses judge, decide, hale before a court, condemn, and hand over for judicial punishment [see §5.b.β]), saying "occupied by those who have been divinely commissioned to judge: the 12 apostles judge the 12 tribes." They do add the caveat, "But here κ[ρίνω] could have the broader sense rule" (s.v.), but their preference is clear.
I find myself siding, with some fear and trepidation, against BDAG and with Louw and Nida. I am largely convinced by Richard Horsley's argument, in Jesus and the Spiral of Violence (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1987, 199–207), that this passage should be translated, "You yourselves will also sit on twelve thrones saving (or effecting justice for) the twelve tries of Israel." Horsley doesn't discussion Matt 12.18, 20 in this regard, but he could have. In that passage the evangelist cites a lengthy passage from Isaiah 42 (in a text-form closer to our MT readings than to the LXX), which twice uses the cognate noun κρίσις [krisis] clearly in the sense of "justice":
καὶ κρίσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀπαγγελεῖ. . . . ἕως ἂν ἐκβάλῃ εἰς νῖκος τὴν κρίσιν.
kai krisin tois ethnesin apangelei. . . . heōs an ekbalē eis nikos tēn krisin.
And he will proclaim justice to the nations. . . . until he shall bring justice into victory. (Matt 12.18, 20)
I don't think Matthew 12 makes the case for Matt 19.28 (and certainly it doesn't for Luke 22.28–30), but I think it at least gives us a solid basis for understanding the κριν- root in terms of justice or restoration.
Of course, the difference between judging and effecting justice for is fairly dramatic. And of course we want to translate the passage in a way that communicates accurately the text's meaning. But here we can't deny that the act of translating the Greek is part of determining this verse's meaning (rather than simply communicating its meaning). This, of course, is always the case, but in this instance at least the stakes seem to be that much higher.
So what do you think? How should we render κρίνω [krinō] in Matt 19.28||Luke 22.28–30? What does Jesus tell his disciples they will do sitting upon the twelve thrones of Israel?
[Update: In my lecture notes I've rendered Matt 19.28, "Then Jesus said to them, 'Truly I tell you that, in the age of renewal, when the Son of Man sits upon his throne of glory, you who have followed me will also sit upon twelve thrones and mete out justice for the twelve tribes of Israel.'"]
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
a very small lacuna?
A colleague of mine, who is doing some extended self-tutorials to brush up on his NT Greek, recently spent half an hour looking for a definition of articular. He looked especially in Black's first-year grammar (Learn to Read New Testament Greek) and Wallace's "intermediate" grammar (Greek Grammar beyond the Basics), but was unable to find an explicit definition. When I tried to help him, I realized that articular is one of those words we use so often that it simply doesn't need definition, like biblical or something.
For example, the first listing for noun, articular in Wallace's index points to pp. 42–46 (How to Distinguish Subject from Predicate Nominative), where the second principle is "The subject will be articular" (p. 43), with a number of examples (e.g., John 4:24: πνεῦμα ὁ θεός/God is spirit). From the perspective of someone who knows what articular means, itseems reasonable to expect someone who doesn't know its meaning to infer it. (See also the use of anarthrous in Wallace's discussion of "Colwell's rule" [pp. 5–6], which uses the term articulated without reference to the Greek article.)
So it seems to me that, perhaps, the lack of a definition of articular in at least some Greek grammars is a lacuna (small though it may be) in the field. For other beginning Greek students, an articular substantive is a noun, adjective, participle, etc. that is modified by an article, which will be in the same case, number, and gender. A substantive that lacks the article is called anarthrous.
But I would invite comments along one of two lines. First, if you know of an explicit (and perhaps more precise) definition of articular and/or anarthrous in a contemporary grammar (preferrably a beginning or intermediate grammar), please let me know. [disclaimer: I haven't done any research on this.] Second, if you're aware of any other lacunae within the literature, please give them here. Technical terms perform valuable functions in academic discourse, but when those of us who practice a certain discipline don't define those terms to help novices recognize and participate in our discourse, we become jargonistic and, even, provincial.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Bill Mounce on the future of teaching Greek
Over at Koinōnia Bill Mounce prognosticates on the future of teaching koinē Greek (see the video, below). Bill, of course, has provided numerous tools that many have found helpful for teaching and learning New Testament Greek, though I personally haven't used any of those tools in my own teaching. He's right, I think, that language acquisition needs to move beyond the grammar-based approach that has been dominant in colleges and seminaries and embrace the possibilities afforded by new technological and multisensory advances.
But I can't help but wonder: Does the future of Greek instruction really lie in learning to say, in Greek, My hair is ___________, and then learning the different lexico-morphological fillers that can fit into that slot?!
I've studied both conversational Spanish and koinē Greek. With the former, learning to say Me llamo Rafael, or ¿Donde está el baño? fulfilled my purposes for studying the language. But in my experience, both personally and with my students, learning how Paul might have inquired after the lav in an unfamiliar city doesn't really apply to the root motivations for taking a very difficult, elective, two-year program. My students want to learn how to hear the voice of God speaking through the Greek text. That goal—introducing them to genuinely Greek texts rather than contrived, Greek-ish exercises—should factor into the future of Greek (and Hebrew and Aramaic) language instruction and acquisition.
Monday, March 23, 2009
discussion of an important resource
This isn't new, but I hadn't seen it before. Over at NT Gateway Mark Goodacre links to Rodney Decker's helpful review of the BDAG, the lexicon you'll want to buy when you find that forgotten $140 in your jeans pocket. For my Greek students, if you're wondering whether or not BDAG is worth the pretty penny it takes to get your own copy, Decker's discussion should help you make a more informed decision.
[For those of you whose girl/boyfriend(s) and/or spouse(s) are in my Greek class, I am in now ay responsible if your loved one(s) spends rent and/or food money on a book you'll never even want to look at.]
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
the beginning of classes
Today is the first day of the Spring 2009 semester at Johnson Bible College. I wish all our students a successful and challenging four months. I am blessed to be teaching two sections of Elementary Greek II and one section of Intermediate Greek II (along with my Graduate online courses). Besides my course load I am working on a book on Christian origins and the Parting of the Ways (more later, I hope) and putting the finishing touches on Structuring Early Christian Memory (T&T Clark, hopefully in time for SBL 2009). I'm also taking a Hebrew class here on campus, and I've started working my way through an Attic Greek grammar. So a lot's going on this spring. Here's to propitious beginnings . . .
Thursday, August 14, 2008
translating Genesis 1–11 [LXX] — UPDATE
According to Murphy's Law, if it can go wrong, it will. I find this scarcely adequate; I'm often amazed at how often something that couldn't possibly go wrong suddenly goes pear-shaped.
Just days after announcing the "coming out" of a new wiki website for the translation of Genesis 1–11 [LXX], the wiki host I was using suffered a major attack and went offline for a couple days. Though the old site is still available, I have moved the whole wiki over to a new hosting service. The new website, GreekBible, is up and available for anyone interested. I have expanded the scope of GreekBible to include the entire, well . . . Greek Bible; as of right now, however, only the text of Genesis 1–11 is available.
I have added a link to GreekBible in my sidebar (under "collaboratives"). Feel free to check it out, join the community, and add to the discussion.
[UPDATE: I have just added the Greek text of Romans 1–8 to GreekBible (click here). More texts will be coming shortly, though probably not before next week.]
Just days after announcing the "coming out" of a new wiki website for the translation of Genesis 1–11 [LXX], the wiki host I was using suffered a major attack and went offline for a couple days. Though the old site is still available, I have moved the whole wiki over to a new hosting service. The new website, GreekBible, is up and available for anyone interested. I have expanded the scope of GreekBible to include the entire, well . . . Greek Bible; as of right now, however, only the text of Genesis 1–11 is available.
I have added a link to GreekBible in my sidebar (under "collaboratives"). Feel free to check it out, join the community, and add to the discussion.
[UPDATE: I have just added the Greek text of Romans 1–8 to GreekBible (click here). More texts will be coming shortly, though probably not before next week.]
Monday, August 04, 2008
Zondervan blog
A team from Zondervan Academic has just started a new blog, Koinōnia (HT: Thanks to Michael Bird for announcing this over on ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΝ). I don't typically announce new blogs, but their first post (other than the obligatory "first post") begins a new series, "Monday with [Bill] Mounce," which has a short discussion on some aspect of the Greek New Testament (today's post considers the phrase εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως [eis hypokoēn pisteōs; "for (?) the obedience of faith"; Rom. 1.5]). For those of you in the first stages of your Greek studies, you might want to check out this series when you can. I've also provided a link to this series under "Greek Resources" (on the right sidebar).
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