From: clayton stirling bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Sun Apr 30 2000 - 23:58:35 EDT
Hi Jonathan,
on 04/30/00 8:07 PM, Jonathan Robie wrote:
> Because in their churches, at conferences, and on the radio, when a
> preacher says "now in the original Greek..." what follows is usually
> lexical analysis. And that, in turn, is at least partially because lexical
> analysis is easier, requiring relatively little real understanding of Greek
> - especially if it is merely mediocre lexical analysis, the good stuff is,
> of course, harder, but rarer.
Lexical analysis is both necessary and proper and fairly difficult to do
without recourse to higher levels of analysis, since it is like looking at
the score of "Rite of Spring" and asking the question, what does this note
mean? The question has absolutely no meaning unless you take into
consideration the entire score or at least a large portion of one movement.
The meaning of the note is defined by its relationship to the other notes.
>
> We've had a fair amount of clause level syntax analysis on B-Greek , and I
> think that the interaction with real experts has made this a very approachable
> place for many relative beginners to get exposed to clause level analysis.
> It's certainly done that for me.
Clause level syntax analysis is both necessary and proper and b-greek is a
great place to get help with this kind of analysis. However, there seems to
be a kind of "sigh of relief" from most students when the finish clause
level analysis because they think the "job is done" and they move on to the
next block of text.
It seems that bottom up analysis tends to end about two levels up from the
bottom when therein is the problem. We don't really do real bottom up
analysis we just stay at the bottom.
What I am wondering is can top down analysis be taught to students early on
or is there something inherently difficult about high level analysis? I was
taught the rudiments of high level, top down analysis in English Bible
classes a decade before I started dabbling in NT Greek. The idea that this
is an "advanced" subject is the idea I am challenging. If I could learn some
of it in English Bible classes than certainly it could be taught along with
the core curriculum in a NT Greek sequence and not stuck in some high level
elective course which few students ever take.
Thanks Jonathan,
Clay
--
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062
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