Greek/Hebrew Requirement

Bill,

"Someone remarked that seminary hardly trains one to critique translations etc, but the point is, seminary just gives the tools. It is usage of these which develops more scholarliness. Too bad some pastors stop learning when they graduate!"

Well put. I agree with this statement. I think, in all practicality, many pastors do not have the time or academic ability to become language-competent in a scholarly manner. A pastor may know the Greek tenses. He probably has a standard issue seminary grammar text around to jog his memory about what the perfect tense conveys. But does he understand what Stanley Porter has written about the the perfect tense? Does he comprehend Buist Fanning's position? Is he aware of Moulton's hypothesis about the aorist gradually replacing the perfect?

He, as a average pastor, really doesn't need to know this. In fact I'd argue that in order to have a scholarly knowledge of the language he would have to neglect some of his pastoral duties. Practical? Not always.

My point is that this: The notion that the average pastor should have such a knowledge of Greek (let alone Hebrew) that he can CRITIQUE the English translations of the bible or the many commentaries written is not a practical one. Most basic students of biblical language don't have a grasp of how complex linguistics can be. And this limits their abilities to fully comprehend things.

A reasonable goal is to have pastors familiar with the languages - familiar enough to understand the basics of grammar and to interact with commentaries.

 

I agree. A liberal friend of mine who attends a liberal seminary in the Boston area recently borrowed one of my lexicons. Her New Testament exegesis class esentially consisted of her professor teaching the class the Greek alphabet and how to use commentaries. She is taking no Biblical languages for her MDiv at Andover Newton Theological School. IMO 3 or 4 classes in each language is necessary to really get the most out of scholarly commentaries.

 

At my seminary, for a ThM you are required to have 15 hours of Greek and 12 of Hebrew. And for those who are working on a different Masters degree they offer another class that teaches the very basics of the languages and then they teach them how to use language helps so they won't misuse their limited knowledge of Greek and Hebrew.

In my opinion that is a great way to handle the languages. Those who are going to be pastors and teachers take the ThM and get great language classes...yet, the others who will work in other areas of the church are not left hanging on languages.

 

Geek

I like Dallas. Had several profs at Western with ThDs from there ,and my informal dissertation reader has his PhD from DTS.

Bill G

 

Charles,

I would go a step further and state: Most Americans can never master a second language. Most cannot master the primary language.

I think that introductory languages should be part of a student's degree plan somewhere.

I meet people almost weekly that have spent many more "years" studying Spanish than I have, and they cannot use Spanish. This is even sadder amongst pastors that cannot use the years of language training they received (Greek and Hebrew).

When I told my professors that I wanted to "RETAIN" my languages (Greek and Hebrew) they looked at me as if I had requested a miracle ...

 

El Guero,

I agree. It's tough to say because it comes across as arrogant or something - but it's true! To have ACDADEMIC mastery of a language is something that most people are not capable of. And that's OK.

I think pastors should be familiar with the languages but yet realize that 2 or 3 courses don't make them masters.

The danger is in using the language incorrectly in exegesis! Better to say, "I don't know than to confidently assert something wrong!"

 

Charles,

It is a danger that so many pastors are not doing so well in. I cringe whenever a pastor says the Greek word here is: "logos".