From: Benjamin Raymond (braymond@ipa.net)
Date: Mon Jan 26 1998 - 17:03:36 EST
Hello,
This is my first post to the list and I hope I'm able to remain on topic.
I had delved into Koine a bit on my own, in addition to a couple semesters
of Latin, prior to any formal education in biblical Greek. I am now in my
third semester of Greek and am rather frustrated with my current program.
It seems to me that the class is structured to cover basic concepts and
translational skills for ministers who are not looking to continue their
Greek studies after graduation. This is irritating to me, since I am
hoping to do grad work in biblical languages. Adding to this, my prof is
using his "new approach" to Greek, which is essentially an attempt to
simplify paradigms and skip over parts of the language which are not common
in New Testament Greek. I have spoken to him on occasion to express my
concerns, but I don't believe I made much of an impression. Looking at
entrance exam requirements for grad programs, there are several areas in
which I must be proficient but am not being exposed to at present.
Well... let me give an example. Rather than learn LUW principle parts and
paradigms, students are taught to simply memorize this chart for the
indicative:
Active (and Aorist Passive) Middle/Passive (except Aorist Passive)
--------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
I (A, -MI, -N, W) I (-MAI, -MHN)
you (sg) (-S) you(sg) (Hi, OU, W, SAI)
he, she, it (E(N), EI, H, -SI(N) he, she, it (-TAI, -TO)
we (-MEN) we (-MEQA)
you (pl) (-TE) you (pl) (-SQE)
they (-N, -SAN, SAN, -SI(N)) they (-NTAI, -NTO)
Now when I first saw this, visions of Latin charts danced in my head. No
way can this be so simplified! As you can plainly see, the chart is only
good for tranlating from Greek to English (students are not taught to
conjugate a verb)... and there are plenty of gray areas at that!
The grammar we are working through, a prototype of the professor, is
driving me up the wall (It's called "Greek for Idiots"). It is filled with
shortcuts like this. While I trust that I will be able to repair most of
the immediate damage after this class is over, I am very concerned about
building a solid foundation, and am extremely skeptical of this methodology.
I would very much appreciate any suggestions that you might have for me. I
was trying to follow along in Efird for a while to supplement the class,
but the prof has departed by leaps and bounds. I recently purchased Machen
and am hoping to work through it after this class is over. I have asked my
prof to recommend a grammar which would help me to get a more traditional
grounding in Greek, but he was not extremely helpful.
Any ideas? How can I be confident in a firm foundation before I move on to
more advanced biblical Greek study? This may be off topic, but I would
also welcome any suggestions for Masters programs which have a strong
emphasis on biblical languages.
Please feel free to reply via e-mail.
Many thanks, and I hope to join more of these elucidating threads soon.
Ben
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin Raymond
Harding University School of Biblical Studies (senior)
braymond@ipa.net
HU Box 11871, 900 E Center
Searcy, AR 72149-0001
501-279-4820
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