Lingamish (David Ker): Freaks don’t want no Greek
... It’s simply this: Biblical Greek instruction forever scars anyone exposed to it. The end result of studying Biblical languages should be an appreciation for the unique qualities of those languages and an ability to study them to our benefit. But instead, students are mired down from the very start in things like “the movable nu” and a bewildering terminology for talking about Koine that is itself a foreign language.
Students are permanently scarred by Greek study in one of two ways. The first group endures the rite of passage and vows never to go through it again while simultaneously feeling a lasting sense of shame and inferiority because they couldn’t hack it. The second group actually thrives under the Greek instruction. They enjoy memorizing all the different forms and vocabulary. But their scar is more subtle. They become convinced that being able to parse a Greek verb equates with understanding the Bible in Greek. I admire the brilliant minds that gravitate in this direction. There are three people I consider my Greek mentors, one of them a grandmother. Their love of the language inspires me to endure the pain of parsing.
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But understanding a language doesn’t mean you understand the message. This happens to me all the time in Mozambique. Someone is talking to me in Portuguese or Nyungwe or even English. I understand every word he is saying. But I don’t have a clue what he’s talking about. There’s some missing bit of information that I don’t have access to. Almost every time it is some cultural context that isn’t available to me as an outsider. Reading the Bible is like that. You can understand every word and still not get it.
Excellent post ... and not just because David linked my blog. :)
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