From: Ben Crick (ben.crick@argonet.co.uk)
Date: Thu Dec 10 1998 - 01:27:48 EST
On Wed 9 Dec 98 (15:29:10), du198@freenet.carleton.ca wrote:
> I have to explain to new students of biblical Greek the importance of
> studying the language. Could you please give me some reasons why we
> should study biblical greek and why biblical greek is relevant for today.
> Many people in my midst think that it is a waste of time. I have to come
> up with very convincing answers to help them understand the importance
> of studying biblical Greek.
Dear Carlton:
Biblical Greek is relevant for today because the Bible is relevant for
today. Church folk all over the world want to know what the Word of God
really has to say about their situation. Post-Christians and Post-Moderns
are equally curious.
If Biblical Hebrew (and Aramaic too) is the language God spoke, then
Biblical Greek is the language Jesus Christ spoke.
Many of the young people enrolling for Greek classes today are training
for the Christian ministry. It is part of their necessary discipline to
study the Biblical languages. In my case I was spurred on by Scripture
itself: "Study to show thyself approved to God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:25).
The single most decisive factor in the Protestant Reformation was arguably
the publication by Desiderius Erasmus of the Greek New Testament, soon
revised by Robert Stephanus and published in 1550 as the "Textus Receptus".
His son Henri moved to Geneva and published numerous editions of the Greek
classics. He published the "Thesaurus linguae Graecae" (1572); "Apologie
pour He/rodote" (1566); and "Traite/ de la Conformite/ du Francais avec le
Grec". Greek took its place alongside Latin as a compulsory subject in the
Universities. Oxford and Cambridge only dropped compulsory Greek after
WW2; and compulsory Latin quite recently.
Western Philosophy is built upon Greek philosophy. Latin is the language
of Western Jurisprudence; but Greek is the language of Western Philosophy.
European History since the Reformation stems from the impact of the Greek
NT on politics: "cuius regio, eius religio" (a nation's religion is that
of its ruler). Modern Science and the Industrial Revolution was only made
philosophically possible by the Protestant Reformation (the Weber-Tawney
Hypothesis). If anyone wants to plan for the future, he must study the past.
Henry Ford said "History is bunk". Winston Churchill said "The lesson of
history is that nations will not learn the lesson of history" (or something
like that).
No doubt others can think of more and better reasons. It's late and I'm
off to bed...
ERRWSQE
Ben
-- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF <ben.crick@argonet.co.uk> 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm--- B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
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