Intro - Matt

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Matthew Longhorn
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Intro - Matt

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Hi all, new member and a bit of a flurry poster today.
I am self-taught in Greek but need a LOT more work. I started with Mounce and then moved on to Wallace. Since then I have been buying (and mostly reading) everything I can on Greek grammar and linguistics. I recently tried reading 2 Corinthians, after finding 1 Corinthians enjoyable, and found myself well and truly out of my depth. Turns out that I have a long way to go in my quest to become even remotely competent

Recently I started doing some online stuff on systemic functional linguistics with someone from McMasters and at the moment I am teaching a few people from my old church first year Greek.

I am aware that many members of this board don't agree with Porter's approach to the verb with regards to tense and discourse prominence of verb forms but at the moment that is the approach that I seem to gravitate towards. That said, I do try to read things from those who disagree with him but have no access to academic libraries so generally have to break my bank on books and Logos resources.

I also seem to be semi-obsessed with the middle voice for some reason. I read Rachel Aubrey's article in the Greek Verb Revisited and was pretty much hooked and then moved onto Rutger Allan's thesis and onto some articles by Carl Conrad.

Finally, firmly perplexed by prepositions and why the take the case that they do. In some works I have read that they help clarify the use of the case, and yet in many instances it seems that they are used to denote something that is not the normal use of the case. Looking forward to one day getting to read the book that will hopefully come from the recent prepositions workshop.

Anyway, long intro but glad to finally join up. Hope you can put up with what may be semi-regular questions on the forums!

Matt
Shirley Rollinson
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Re: Intro - Matt

Post by Shirley Rollinson »

Welcome to B-Greek, Matt -
I'd recommend reading the GNT every day - let the "real Greek" form your thinking, rather than the 'grammarians' Greek' :-)
I can recommend the book by Grosvenor and Zerwick to help you understand the text.
All the best with your studies and teaching.
If you want a textbook for your first-year Greek students, you are welcome to use mine (It's free, and it's intended to get students reading and understanding fairly quickly), http://www.drshirley.org/greek/textbook02/index.html
Again - welcome to B-Greek
Shirley Rollinson
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Intro - Matt

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Thanks Dr. Rollinson.
I have been working through about a chapter a day on and off for a while now. I started with Romans, went onto 1 Corinthians then Mark, tried 2 Corinthians and no with tail between my legs have turned to Luke. Writing vocab cards as I go and come across new or awkward words seems to be working well. At least it makes me feel like I can read some books of the bible as long as I keep revising that vocab over the weekends.

I am currently using Mounce for the people I am working with. I disagree with a number of things that he states, so having another resource for them to look at would definitely help. I try to help them understand where there are debated issues as well as just learning the basics; I remember after finishing Mounce I felt like there couldn't really be much more to learn - I was soon disabused of that notion. Hopefully I am at least removing that potential for "a little Greek is a dangerous thing" overconfidence whilst not killing enthusiasm.
MAubrey
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Re: Intro - Matt

Post by MAubrey »

Bavinck wrote: November 12th, 2017, 11:07 am Finally, firmly perplexed by prepositions and why the take the case that they do. In some works I have read that they help clarify the use of the case, and yet in many instances it seems that they are used to denote something that is not the normal use of the case. Looking forward to one day getting to read the book that will hopefully come from the recent prepositions workshop.
Hi Matt,

I fear that you might be a little disappointed there. Case marking & prepositions isn't something that we dealt with simple because the relationships between cases and prepositions is so much older than the Koine era. The semantics of the prepositions and their usage has shifted with time. Still, depending on what particular issues you have in mind, it might also be a good idea to simply shift your sense of what is "the normal use of the case."

Cheers!
Mike
Mike Aubrey, Linguist
SIL International
Koine-Greek.com
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Intro - Matt

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Thanks Mike, that is interesting to know. Do you know of any good monograph length resources that are currently available dealing with prepositions? I have Harris' book which I am dipping in an out of.
It was also good to come across the things you posted on your site on prepositions, thanks for posting those. Do you have them in pdf at all?
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Intro - Matt

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Matt, welcome. You are doing the right sorts of things to make progress, but I'd just like to underscore Shirley's comments about the the more you read the more you know. :lol: Many of these sorts of questions will be answered by a growing familiarity with the language, or if not directly answered, you will have a better framework and foundation for pursuing the answers, and don't forget to read Greek outside the NT. My advice is to avoid theory before a solid grounding in the language itself.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Intro - Matt

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

Thanks Barry. I tend towards the "mildly" obsessive and can sometimes get stuck reading everything I can find on small points - good to hear a corrective from two people to focus more on the reading.
Jason Hare
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Re: Intro - Matt

Post by Jason Hare »

Matt,

Best of luck in your studies!

We're starting a reading group on Jan 1 on Facebook to read through the whole Hebrew OT and Greek NT in a year. Maybe you'd be interested in joining in the Greek part? Or, reading the LXX while we read Hebrew?!

Regards,
Jason
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
Matthew Longhorn
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Re: Intro - Matt

Post by Matthew Longhorn »

That sounds good - would definitely help me keep on track.
Can you send me more information?
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