New Testament Greek
The Bible translates well into all the languages of the world, but being able to read it in the well-preserved original form spoken in hellenistic areas of first-century Palestine and written by all the New Testament authors, gets us closer to the thought world of the early Church and provides insights into what the authors meant and did not mean.
Here’s what members of last year’s class had to say:
“I want to be able to read the New Testament more fully, with more depth of appreciation for the words and the meaning. And learning a language is known to be a good way to keep an aging mind active and nimble.”
“I yearn to know what God has said and to live in light of his word. When I am afraid, I go to God's word and renew my mind. When I am at a loss for how to love someone, I go pray through passages on love. God has written a book. He did not give us a movie. I work hard to understand what God originally intended in every passage that I study. Knowing Greek helps with that.”
“I am so thankful that I put in the work to learn beginner Greek because 1) theological books written by scholars are opened to me. I can now follow what is being said about the original language. 2) I am able to test what is being said about the Greek by people who twist the Bible to say what it was never intended to say. Sometimes there are things being said that knowledge of the simplest Greek can enable me to recognize as error. 3) Slowing down to study in Greek by the slow process of learning enables me to see things that can be seen in the English but I was reading too fast or I was too familiar with it to have noticed it. It is a way of meditating on the scripture.”
For the second year, therefore, a beginners’ class in New Testament Greek will be offered on Monday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 in the Bambrick Room for anyone interested, whether from the St. Augustine’s community or not. A certain number of used textbooks are available to borrow, and the course itself is also free. We start on January 13 with the aim of meeting weekly until the end of June, as last year, then finishing off in the fall.
I am also hoping to begin a Greek reading class at a different time in the week for those who have already had an introduction to Greek and are ready to work through longer passages of the NT.
Please email me, Tim, at pope@uleth.ca if you are interested or would like further information on either course.