Monday, August 11, 2008

Greek Progress

Though I focused on Greek in my B.A. at Calvary Bible College, as well as my M.A. Midwestern Baptist, I find it helpful to review 1st-year Greek semi-consistently.  Perhaps this is telling on the time I find to spend in the Greek text itself :(   More likely, however, this reveals how hard I studied and reviewed during that first year in Greek (not enough)!  But there are always small matters of Grammar about which Mounce (Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar) reminds me.  These are usually small things that are easy to forget, such as the fact that the genitive case ending in the second declension is actually omicron, not upsilon, or the fact that the second declension accusative plural ending is actually nu-sigma, not upsilon-sigma.  These seem like trivial matters of morphology and grammar, but it seems that these minor details show up here and there as one works through various passages of the NT.  

Each time I review 1st year grammar, it seems like something else 'sticks out' as significant.  I pick up one more detail which I missed before.  And this knowledge of seemingly trivial matters begins to accumulate.  I make more connections between issues of grammar/morphology as I move through a particular passage than before.  I hope this compounding will continue on the quest to read the Greek NT like a native, of course, for the purpose of accurately hearing God speak in Scripture and proclaiming His revelation precisely to others.

2 comments:

Michael Schellman said...

I am a Seminary Graduate, looking for Biblical and Theological bloggers to dialog with. Your blog looks very informative and insighful. I will bookmark your blog and check back periodically.

Grace and Peace,
Mike

Joshua Mann said...

Mike, that sounds great. I look forward to any comments you have!