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Greek, Concordances & Computers
In the discussion about concordances, a number of computer programs
have come up. For instance, while the Online Bible sounds interesting,
it seems severly handicapped because it is based on English
translations. Sure, you can figure out what the underlying Greek word
is, and even get a nifty definition (or is it a gloss? And if it is a
gloss, isn't the English translation already providing a gloss that
the translators thought was closest to it's "true meaning"??), but
that doesn't help matters if you want to figure out how the Greek word
dynamis, for example, is used, beacuse the KJV translates it as
"power", "strength", "wonderful works", "mighty works", "meaning"
(?!), etc.
If someone was going to purchase a computer concordance, it would seem
that if it was going to be truly useful, it would have to be based on
the Greek text (or Hebrew text). Now, if someone doesn't know Greek,
then something like the Online Bible could be useful, as long as they
are careful about what they do with the Greek definitions, etc. (this
brings up a bunch of questions concerning semantics and the usefulness
of etymologies (cf. James Barr, _The Semantics of Biblical Language_;
Nida & Louw, _Lexical semantics of the Greek NT_, etc.) (But
I'm assuming that anyone on this net does know Greek)
Anyways--that's just my two-cents worth on the subject :-)
Tyler
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Tyler Williams Department of Near Eastern Studies
Internet: twilliam@epas.utoronto.ca University of Toronto
Voice: (416) 963-9082 Toronto, Ontario
"Of making many books there is no end,
and much study wearies the body"
-Qoh 12:12
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