Spring 2008/Pasadena
LG517
Kiefer

LG517: GREEK READING. David Kiefer.


DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to help students improve their ability to read extended passages in the Greek New Testament with facility. Emphasis will be on vocabulary development and rapid recognition of Greek word forms, grammatical structures, and sentence patterns. Review of the basic elements of New Testament Greek will be included according to the needs of the class.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to (a) identify all the relevant categories (i.e., to parse) all regular forms and most of the irregular but frequent forms of the articles, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs that occur in the Greek New Testament; (b) know the most common meanings of about 700 words that occur most frequently in the Greek NT, (c) know the patterns of Greek word formation and put this to use in vocabulary development and reading, (d) understand and be able to recognize the basic grammatical structures, sentence patterns, and styles of Koine Greek sentences as found in the Greek NT; and (e) be able to use all of this to read and translate extended passages throughout the New Testament with minimal use of reference tools.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: One of the most basic elements in interpreting the text of the New Testament is understanding the language in which it was written. Students who successfully complete this course should be able to make extensive use of the Greek text, with limited dependence on supportive tools, as part of the exegetical task.

COURSE FORMAT: The course will meet twice each week for two-hour sessions. The first class meeting of each week will be devoted to translation and discussion of a passage of Greek text for which students have prepared in advance. The second class meeting of each week will be devoted to translation and discussion of an unprepared passage. In this exercise the instructor will work with the students to help them develop sight-reading skills at the very time of their encounter with an unfamiliar text.

REQUIRED READING:

Aland, K. et al. The Greek New Testament. 4th ed. United Bible Societies, 1993.

Kubo, Sakae. Reader's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Zondervan, 1975.

Robinson, Thomas A. Mastering Greek Vocabulary. 2nd revised ed. Hendrickson, 2003.

RECOMMENDED READING: Many resources which may be of value in the use of the Greek New Testament or the development of Greek language skills will be recommended during the course.

ASSIGNMENTS: Each week's assignment consists of preparation of a passage for the following week and rereading of the passages discussed in class the previous two weeks. In addition, vocabulary review and new learning assignments will be given each week.

PREREQUISITES: A basic working knowledge of Greek as evidenced by successful completion of LG512 Beginning Greek or by a satisfactory score on the Greek Entrance Examination. No audits.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Elective.

FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes. The final examination will consist mainly of translation, with questions about forms and grammar, of both familiar and unfamiliar passages.

This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. (1/08)