From: dixonps@juno.com
Date: Tue Dec 14 1999 - 14:00:29 EST
I agree with Carl that a working knowledge of the Attic would only
enhance one's appreciation and understanding of the Koine, though
I also speak as one primarily trained in the Koine.
The issue for most of us pastors, however, is that of primacy. Just
how much time does one want to devote himself to in the Attic when
his first calling is to study the Word of God (Ezra 7:10, 2 Tim 2:15),
the
NT of which is written in the Koine? This is not to say studies of the
Attic
and Koine should be mutually exclusive, just that one has to consider
the law of diminishing returns. More study in the Attic may be good,
but if too much time is spent in it, then one's study in the Koine NT
may be lessened, possibly resulting in more significant damage to
others.
For as me, my studies in the Attic have been primarily on an "as need
basis." If I am doing word studies, for example, than I can and do
often check the Attic usages. Or, good grammars can be quite helpful.
Have I read Homer? Not in the Greek. Do I plan to read it or some of
classics in the Greek? Probably not. If I read outside the Greek NT,
I would rather read the LXX, or the early Greek fathers.
This is the main reason I find the Greek list of such value. I am able
to rely on the knowledge of others, more knowledgeable in the Attic
than I. It can be and has proven to be an efficient tool for me.
Thanks guys.
Paul Dixon
On Mon, 13 Dec 1999 16:37:19 -0600 "Carl W. Conrad"
<cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu> writes:
> At 5:01 PM -0500 12/13/99, James Dewan wrote:
> >This is a rather ignorant question, but I'm afraid I must ask it.
> My I
> >hear what exactly the benefit is of learning Attic Greek for
> improving
> >one's grasp of koine Greek? Is there a benefit? Should I take the
> time
> >and effort to learn it, or continue to learn koine Greek? Much
> thanks
> >
> >Jim Dewan
> >Pastor, Sinclairville, NY
>
> I would not insist that anyone MUST learn Attic Greek, but I would
> uphold
> the notion that the benefit of learning it and of reading Greek from
> the
> era earlier than and later than and even contemporaneous with the NT
> but
> outside of the GNT is significant for numerous reasons (we've
> discussed
> this repeatedly over the months and years and nothing I say now is
> new):
> one's understanding of ANY body of Greek literature will ordinary be
> enhanced by acquisition of familiarity with other literature being
> written
> at the same time and earlier in the same language; for one who wants
> to go
> ahead from NT Greek and read patristic writers, it soon becomes
> evident
> that by the middle of the second century A.D. the Greek being
> written by
> educated church fathers such as Clement or later Origen is Attic
> rather
> than Koine, owing to the "Atticist" movement that did for Attic
> Greek much
> of what Renaissance rediscovery of classical Latin did for Latin
> prose,
> establishment of the older language as the standard of good
> language. Other
> benefits: a greater familiarity with the cultural background of the
> Mediterranean World, inasmuch, however much weight one assigns to
> the OT
> and Judaism in the NT background, it would be hard to demonstrate
> that the
> Greco-Roman background is negligible for, say, the Pauline letters
> or even
> the gospels of Luke and Mark; yet another reason: the older Greek
> literature is worth reading for its own sake, and by "older" I mean
> everything from Homer and Hesiod on down through the Periclean era
> and the
> Hellenistic era.
>
> Lest I be misunderstood, I repeat once more: I would not argue that
> one
> whose only Greek is the Koine of the NT is not equipped at all for
> the
> primary purpose for which he or she learned Greek, BUT I do believe
> that
> one will read even the NT Koine better if one knows more of the
> Greek
> written before, during and after the NT corpus itself. But this is a
> question that will certainly be answered differently by different
> list-members; I offer no more than my own opinion.
>
>
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics/Washington University
> One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
> Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
> cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
> WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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