Do you think Greek should be taught in Christian schools?

[TaterTot]

Why just teach kids? We are starting a Greek class at CHURCH!! Of course the pastor is getting his PhD in the language.
I think its part of rightly dividing the word of truth.

Oh, and our exchange student from Spain we had last summer studies classical Greek in high school.

 

[KeithS]

There is a "classical" Christian school here. They offer a "classical" education which included Latin and Greek beginning in 1st Grade (if I remember correctly). They claim to have data suggesting that learing Latin and Greek early leads to higher academics later. Most gradutes are in the 99.96 percentile of the country, blah blah.... Don't know whether the statements have a foundation or not.

For myself, my understanding of English improved by studying Greek (my English was not that bad before, however).

 

[Plain Old Bill]

TaterTot & KeithS,bless you both.

 

[TaterTot]

Bless you, too, Plain Old Bill!!!

 

[Ps104_33]

Then why are we living in an English speaking world? All air traffic controllers all over the world must be able to communicate in English. When I was in Europe, I had no trouble finding someone who could speak English. You are all making the assumption that unless one knows Greek you cant understand the Bible. People on this board throw Greek around like they are major scholars but are obviously just repeating what someone who does know it says. The English speaking people rule the world. When the Greeks rule the world again we will all speak Greek.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Let's see hmmm,the New Testament was written in Greek.
Question: How many English translations and paraphases of the Bible are there?

Languages are not impossible.When I went to Tiawan I took a 26 week course in Mandarin Chinese(spoken).When I went to Italy I learned to speak Italian well enough to get around fairly well and could read it fairly well.When I went to Korea I took spoken and written Korean courses.I only took one course in Greek and have'nt used it for years and now am kicking myself in the seat of the pants.
Some of the people on this board are scholars some are not.I can't speak for everybody but the scholars get me interested in digging deeper.I'm a person with a lot of curiosity.I think it would be great if we created a class of lay people who understood the original Bible languages.
My stepfather was catholic.When he was young he was told not to even read the Bible that that was for the priests to do and they would tell him what he needed to know.Now English Bibles are God's Word but we can know for certain what the Bible says by learning the language it was wrtitten in.
Whenever you translate from one language to another something is lost.

 

[ktn4eg]

Many of the previous postings have already stated what they believe to be "PROs and CONs" of teaching Greek, Latin, or whatever other languages you wish.

My point is that one should expose a young person to as many varied educational experiences as possible--including some taught in the classroom.

In my limited experience in life, I've never yet come across a "mature" person who regretted those experiences.

Did each of these experiences individually later become one's "life-long" vocation? Of course not.

Whoever it was that said that "ALL truth is God's truth" had it right.

In this day and age of increasing specialization in so many areas of life, rare is the individual who has at least a little knowledge in a lot of things.

"Just enough to be dangerous"? Maybe, maybe not. This is where discernment must play a major role.

Every one of your experiences are different. For as many negative or horror stories as we care to supply, others can supply as many positive ones.

A diploma or a degree by itself PROVES nothing. As I related in some other forum, I'll never forget this one dear brother's priceless evaluation of some of the speakers at a Bible conference at which he'd recently attended:

"I tell you, brother, they had more "Doctors" there than a hospital, and I don't think I'd have trusted any of 'em to put a Band Aid on my finger!"

AND.....all God's people said.....

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Ktn4eg,
I understand what you are saying.If you read all the way back through the thread the idea was to get greek taught in the Jr. Hi & High schools in Christian schools.According to two people here on the board that is happening in 2 schools and working out very well.
The purpose behind the proposing learning greek in jr. hi & hi school was to do at least 2 things,first have a better educated laity and second have a young man or woman who is going off to Bible college better prepared.
I get the feeling from some here that they feel threatened by an educated laity. Some have put Biblical greek into the position of being a priests holy language.They will not say that openly but the vibe sure does come through.They complain about our sons and daughters not having total mastery of the english language.What about when we take our car to the garage to have it worked on? Do we question whether the mechanic has mastered all of the mechanical or electrical parts of the car or are we concerned whether he learned about both the electrical and mechanical systems of the car?Could he have learned about both systems at the same time or did he have to totally master one system first?

 

[ktn4eg]

POB--

I know exactly how both sides feel. Again, to me it's more of an issue of discernment or tact or diplomacy or whatever else you care to call it.

Perhaps this was one reason why the Apostle Paul warned against the ordaining of what King Jimmy calls a "novice."

If a pastor seems threatened by an educated laity, whose fault is that?

What is perceived as a threat by one is viewed as a challenge by the other.

There are so many "helps" out there for any who wish to APPLY themselves that were not available in times past, but not all "helps" are equal.

God puts no premium on ignorance any more than He does on education. Moreover, as you and my other friends out there already can readily testify, knowledge does NOT equate to wisdom.

[Oh, and BTW, I DID read the previous postings...OP up to mine! And, yes, I'm more than willing to be corrected if I'm wrong in what I've posted.]

 

[GeneMBridges]

I'm glad that you posted this thread! This is actually one of my "dreams," and is on my list of things I would like to do one day. To quote MLK, "I have a dream" (sorry, had to do it, it was just too obvious), where one day a group of pastors and seminarians will work together to teach Greek in Christian schools (or even Sunday Schools) the same way that Jewish children learn Hebrew. I used to work @ at a temple in Boca Raton and learned about Hebrew school there. Jews, who are a much smaller population that we Christians, do this with their children, why can't we? We could learn a thing or two from them in this department, IMO.

I have wanted to do this ever since reading this paragraph from The Soul's Quest for God by RC Sproul last year:

"Divine illumination comes through grace, not magic. This grace aids and assists our earnest and diligent study of Scripture. Members of Edwards (referring to Johnathan Edwards) congregation, who enjoyed firsthand experience of an awakening to spiritual light (referring to the First Great Awakening), regularly had their Greek New Testaments propped open before them as they plowed their fields." (referring to the study of Scripture in church)

How far the body of Christ has fallen from those days. Now, don't get me wrong, we have excellent English Bibles. English translations are remarkably accurate. However, when I consider what Jewish children learn of Hebrew as they are growing up, what the people of a congregation over 200 years ago knew in comparison to today's congregants, and how our society, like gb said so well, can't seem to write a cogent paragraph, I can't help but say, "My how the mighty have fallen."

One of these days, I pray that the Lord will place me in a position where this dream comes true. I think offering it to associations of homeschooling parents would be a good place to start. That way, they could bring their children together in one place, say twice a week for an hour and a half, and an association of local pastors, ministers of education, or Bible college professors, student interns, or seminarians could lead the class. The parents could even be given the option to attend as well. Just think, we could raise up an entire generation of Christians that could have their devotions in fluent koine Greek.

 

[TaterTot]

Originally posted by Ps104_33:
The English speaking people rule the world. When the Greeks rule the world again we will all speak Greek.

But see, Biblical Greek is NOT modern day spoken Greek. They are very different. I dont want to depend on what someone SAYS the Greek says. I want to know for myself.

 

[StefanM]

Teaching NT Greek to high school students as a component of the general curriculum would be a waste of resources. The amount you would be able to effectively teach most high school students would be minimal. To study Greek would require too much work for a student who wasn't overly seriously about learning the language, and this student would probably be the average student in a high school Greek class.

I echo those who say to improve English education. From personal experience, I know that those without good grammatical skills in English usually are eaten alive in Greek study.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Right on TaterTot.
Gene Bridges bless you man. You get it exactly. This is what I'm talking about. I think the power level in the life of Christians would go up.I believe it would draw churches together.I believe it would draw pastors closer to thier congregations.Imagine what that would do to a family Bible study time. I can't think of any way it would not benefit a Christian,a church, a Christian school, or the students.

I hope your dream comes true.

 

[Dr. Bob]

Taught my children at home. All had a semester of
Intro to Greek, semester of Hebrew, semester of Heiroglyphic and a semester of choice (boys both took Japanese; daughter took American Sign Language).

Exposure to the language in high school helped in college work.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

So Dr. Bob did it hurt any of them?Did it draw away from thier learning thier other subjects? Did it hurt thier ability to use the english language?I am sure that it threatened you in no way.
Would you consider doing something like that in a Christian School if you were able?

By the way bless you too!

 

[gb93433]

I have heard many blame the teachers. But I have never once ever had a parent when I was teaching high school ever say that their child did not work hard enough. What I have heard a lot of is their point of view that school should be fun. I told them school is not fun. It is hard work but what they learn is rewarding. Some didn't like that too well.

I have heard too many parents complain about how much time their children have to spend on homework. Once in awhile I will tell someone when they complain about how I grew up on a dairy farm and took college prep sunjects in high school.

When I was pastoring I saw a direct relationship between leadership in the church and the discipline in the high school. If the schools let the students be lazy so was the church leadership.

[ January 04, 2005, 01:22 AM: Message edited by: gb93433 ]

 

[Marcia]

Originally posted by MTA:
Teaching Jr. and Sr. High school students to effectively read and write English is a much better use of their time and their parent's tuition dollars.

What is the value of such a program for the majority of these students? How many would ever find learning Greek and/or Hebrew beneficial?

I haven't read through all the pages but I think the OP was questioning whether Greek should be taught in Christian schools. This is quite different from asking whether Greek should be taught in all schools.

And I think learning another language -- Greek, French, German, Spanish, whatever -- helps you learn your own better. My first language was German (as a tot) and the first schooling I had was in French. I made straight A's in English from 7th grade to 12th grade and majored in Literature. I have found that others who learned several languages also were excellent at English.

 

[gb93433]

Several years ago a lady (I think it was in the Chicago area) started a school for poor children. After about 20 years the graduates of that school were interviewed. About two had ever been unemployed and about two had ever been divorced. She made those students work hard. They mentioned that when they went to college it was easy because they had already had most of the material already. She helped to make them successful.

There is no reward for grades that are not earned. There is no reward in laziness. School should be hard work but rewarding for their hard work.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Amen!

 

[ktn4eg]

Have ANY of you who've criticized teaching GK or HEB
(or even Martian ) EVER heard of the word

ELECTIVE (& I'm not talking Calvinism here

)