[b-greek] Re: Mounce NIV English-GNT

From: Patrick Narkinsky (patrick@extremehope.org)
Date: Sat Nov 04 2000 - 15:09:29 EST


On Fri, 3 Nov 2000, Lynn Trapp wrote:

> Steven,
> In fact, that did strike me as an odd thing about the book in question. It
> seems to me that the only real value of any interlinear would be for
> vocabulary building for a beginning reader of Greek. To twist it around and
> make the "primary" text the English seems to me to be counter productive to
> that end, and only serves to do what Carl suggested--make "would-be Greek
> scholars" out of any and every Joe who comes along.
>

I can hardly agree that this is the only value for an interlinear. An
interlinear is a useful tool if you want to get a good feel for *exactly*
what the words in a particular passage mean, and know little Greek. You
get the words in the interlinear, then go over to your Lexicon and look
them up. The definitions in, for example, Louw Nida, are far more
detailed than any translation can be. It's a nice middle ground between
actually reading greek and just using the Strong's numbers.

I will certainly concede that that this approach is limited, and that it
would be far better to *learn* Greek. Certainly, any insights into the
text derived from this approach must be carefully examined. However,
there are many who can profit from this approach but for whom the years of
study involved to become really proficient are simply out of reach. (For
example, most pastors I know don't really *read* Greek -- they use an
approach something like the above.)

I speak as one who is currently at the interlinear level, and am working
hard to get enough "juice" to bootstrap myself into actual reading.

My $0.02,

Patrick


--
Patrick Narkinsky patrick@extremehope.org

"It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My Hosanna is
born of a furnace of doubt." -- Fyodor Dostoevski


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