Latin And Greek

[ithinkjesusiscool]

χαίρετε

 

How has studying Latin and Greek helped you understand Theology?

How much did you need to study in order to learn those languages?

Does reading the Bible in the original languages, eg. Greek, really help us understand the Bible?

[puellapaschalis]

Praying in Latin is the best way to learn the Psalms.

[CatherineM]

I have found deeper understanding of some bible passages by looking at the Greek.

[Basilisa Marie]

GREEEEEKKKK!!!!!

 

So quick story: When I was in college my friends badgered me into signing up for an ancient Greek class (they needed a certain number of willing participants to get the class offered). That whole class was a giant lesson in humility - I'm normally an Aish student, but that C in Greek was one of the most satisfying grades I've gotten. Greek's hard, yo. But so's Latin. And Hebrew. Plus Greek is one of the more beautiful languages. 

 

BUT

 

Learning enough greek (koine, probably) to work your way around a lexicon is essential for doing any kind of serious biblical exegesis. You gotta know what the words were, because our NABRE or RSVCE are just translations of translations and to really begin to capture the beautiful, divine complexity of our holy scriptures you gotta look at the ancient languages, greek and hebrew. Knowing things about these languages helps you get to know the text. It's one way to get to know Christ better. 

Latin is good for Church documents. Greek (and hebrew if you're an over achiever) is good for Bible. 

Edited October 18, 2014 by Basilisa Marie

[Not The Philosopher]

I am currently studying Hebrew (due to wanting to specialize in OT studies). Even though it's far more foreign than Latin, I had more trouble with Latin because it was the first language I seriously tried to study. Once you get used to thinking with one sort of alien grammar, it becomes a bit easier to accustom yourself to another one. Still a fairly steep learing curve. I'm still far from being able to read Hebrew with any real competency, but learning the vocabulary alone helps underline subtleties and wordplay in the Bible which can be difficult to convey in translation

 

I will eventually have to get around to beefing up my Greek (which is very,very basic) and likely German as well (which is nonexistent).

[beatitude]

I agree that biblical languages can be helpful, if you're the type of person who likes studying and is good at language-learning. But it is not essential. This seems to be another "pray as you can, not as you can't" question - some of our greatest saints were illiterate even in their own language, never mind anyone else's!

 

Remember that it was Christ who "opened the scriptures" to the disciples on the way to Emmaus, and I doubt he did it by giving a grammar lesson. For the person who is gifted in language studies, Jesus will be present at their desk with them. For the person who doesn't have that particular ability, Jesus will explain in some other way.