Re: minimal german

From: Nichael Lynn Cramer (nichael@sover.net)
Date: Thu Dec 03 1998 - 07:27:01 EST


Greg Kilbrai wrote:
>Edgar Krentz wrote:
>> ...[SNIP] most people who work in the
>> NT have to have at least minimal German.
>>
>As a new (English) student of Greek, could you fill me in on why German
>is important? [I'm having enough difficulty as it is!] Is this still
>true today? I'm assuming from the context that it is because previous
>great scholars of Greek were German and wrote in German? Am I doomed
>because I foresee no chance of ever learning german....

Hi Greg

I think the critical phrase in the Edgar's note is "work in the NT", by
which I mean two things. In NT studies many of the primary scholarly
source have been written in German. Now while this is perhaps less strictly
true today than it was in the past --and while many works have in fact been
translated into English, and other languages-- and, second, while this is
perhaps _somewhat_ less true in the study of Greek, per se, a working
command German remains an essential requirement for anyone doing serious
work in field of NT studies.

Now, this is not to say that both fields can't be studied to great
advantage by those of us with little or no German. However anyone planning
on a career as a serious _professional_ scholar in these fields who did no
have Edgar's "minimal German" would no doubt find themselves at a serious
disadvantage.

Nichael

--
Nichael Cramer
nichael@sover.net                        deep autumn--   
http://www.sover.net/~nichael/                   my neighbor what does she do

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