Keep Your Greek

Constantine R. Campbell

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9780310591771
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Reference

Ten techniques for keeping your knowledge of Greek fresh long after college.

Seminarians spend countless hours mastering biblical languages and learning how the knowledge of them illuminates the reading, understanding, and application of Scripture. But while excellent language acquisition resources abound, few really teach students how to maintain their use of Greek for the long term. Consequently, many pastors and other former Greek students find that under the pressures of work, ministry, preaching, and life, their hard-earned Greek skills begin to disappear.

Constantine Campbell has been counseling one-time Greek students for years, teaching them how to keep their language facility for the benefit of their ministry. In Keep Your Greek, he shows how following the right principles makes it possible for many to retain--and in some cases regain--their Greek language skills.

In Keep Your Greek, you will acquire strategies such as,

• How to wisely use Bible software tools so that you don't become dependent on them.
• How different methods of reading practices can assist your memory and keep you from becoming discouraged.
• How to make time to keep up on your language skills for the sake of your busy ministry.

Pastors will find Keep Your Greek an encouraging and practical guide to strengthening their Greek abilities. Current students will learn how to build skills that will serve them well once they complete their formal language instruction.

Loosing a skill or knowledge set is always discouraging, but with a little guidance, you can dust off your Greek and continue making linguistic insights a regular part of your study and teaching.

Chapter 1

READ
EVERY DAY

Reading reminds, refreshes, and reinforces.

When the fresh seminary graduate begins pastoring, when the demands of counseling and planning meetings and checking off items on the to-do list threaten to undo you, it is more than a little difficult to sustain one’s facility in Greek. Long ago I learned a trick that can help the pastor—on four or five days a week spend ten to fifteen minutes in the Greek text just reading. Open up your Greek New Testament, have a translation to its side and a lexicon to consult, use a parsing guide for words you can’t parse, and just read the text itself.

One more piece of advice, and it may be the most important: never feel guilty or stupid for what you have forgotten, and banish from your mind what your demanding seminary professors would think of what you have now forgotten. The fast pace you used to learn Greek in seminary gives way to a decade of consistent reading and, like family love and growth in wisdom, your facility in Greek will not only develop, but you will become more and more confident that you’ve (only then) finally got a good handle on Greek.

Scot McKnight

Practicing Music

From my background in music, I am convinced that a little time practicing every day is much more beneficial than large chunks of practice interspersed by large chunks of inactivity. When I first started learning to play the saxophone, I found that regular practice every day sped up my development on the instrument in a way that couldn’t be matched by a less regular approach. More than twenty years later, I still find this to be true. If I want to step it up a bit for an important concert or recording, or if I just want to get my saxophone playing to the next level, a little bit each day is the way.

For most musicians, that’s a no-brainer. Of course it’s better to practice every day. But my point is that a little bit of practice every day is better than longer periods at less frequent intervals. Even if you end up doing the same amount of practice in a week through either approach, a little bit each day works out better than the spread-out approach.

Why is that? Well, I’m no expert on brain development, and I don’t know the neurological and physiological reasons why a daily approach is better than a more sporadic approach, but here are a few thoughts. I know that I feel more confident when I practice every day. Everything is that much more familiar and fresh in my mind. It’s more comfortable so I’m more confident. I also think that the neurological connections that are made in the brain are reinforced and strengthened by daily practice.

Moreover, I believe that a lot of development occurs in the subconscious mind, away from the instrument. But this is triggered after a practice session. After I practice, my brain continues to work on improving my skills — just ticking away in the background of my subconscious mind. I suppose that sounds a bit Zen, but lots of good musicians know it to be true. Thus, by practicing a while each day, my brain is regularly triggered to keep working at developing those skills

Reading Greek

In the same way, a little bit of reading Greek every day keeps it all ticking along. Reading every day increases your confidence. Vocabulary, grammar, and syntax all feel more familiar with everyday exposure. Your subconscious mind is triggered regularly to reinforce your learning and knowledge.

It’s reading Greek every day that really counts, rather than other (often good) habits. Learning Greek vocabulary, practicing paradigms, and other such things have their place, and I’ll discuss them later in this book. But they are no substitute for reading Greek, and for busy people who can only afford to do one thing related to Greek each day, it must be this.

There are several reasons for this.

First, reading Greek is our goal. It’s why we’ve learned Greek in the first place: to read and understand the Greek New Testament. There’s nothing like practicing to achieve your goal.

Second, reading Greek brings all the other skills into play: vocabulary, grammar, and syntax are all required for reading, and the reading reminds, refreshes, and reinforces all those things.

Third, there is no substitute for getting the vibe of Greek besides reading it. As with all languages, there is an X-factor to Greek—a vibe, an inner coherence — that is impossible to catch without reading a lot of Greek. Verb tables alone won’t do it. Vocab alone won’t do it. Reading grammars and monographs about Greek won’t do it either. Only reading actual Greek text will do it. It is far and away the most important thing to be doing in order to keep your Greek, and indeed to advance your Greek.

And it only has to be a small amount of reading. Half an hour reading Greek each day would be terrific, but even ten minutes is great. I know some guys who just aim to read one sentence of Greek a day. It doesn’t have to involve a big-time commitment — just do a little each day. You’d be surprised at how much difference ten minutes of reading Greek each day makes over the longterm. It doesn’t feel like much at the time, but it will do wonders for your knowledge and ability. So, don’t despise “the day of small things” a little bit is what you want. A little bit is the key.

In fact, I would recommend starting smaller rather than bigger, especially if your Greek is rusty. Half an hour of reading Greek could do you more damage than good to begin with because the confidence factor is really important here. If you read for half an hour and end up deeply discouraged, or if you despair at how much you don’t know, you’ll be less likely to stay the course. Start small. Read for ten minutes a day and don’t worry about how much you don’t know or how little text you cover in that time. You will gradually find yourself wanting to read for longer. If you have the time in the day to increase to fifteen or twenty minutes, or eventually thirty minutes, that’s great. Just don’t bite off more than you can chew to begin with.

Here’s another tip: begin with “easy” Greek, like John’s gospel. The vocabulary is limited and the syntax is straightforward (while the theology is profound!). This will help your confidence and get you into the swing of things. If you’ve been away from Greek for quite a while, starting off with 1 Peter or Hebrews would be a big mistake. Even Paul might be too much for now. That’s OK; we’ll get there in time.

Your Habit

The key here is to develop a habit. As with all good habits, it may take some motivation and energy to get started. But once the pattern is established and you are reading some Greek each day, the habit will take care of itself. It will become as routine as brushing your teeth.

It’s worth noting, too, however, that reading every day need not become a type of legalism that leaves you feeling guilty or inadequate if you miss a day here or there. It’s OK to miss an occasional day during a particularly busy time. In fact, you may decide you want to read five days a week and take weekends off. That’s perfectly fine. The important thing is that a habit is formed in which you are reading some Greek at least several times a week. If you can develop this habit, you will be well on your way to keeping your Greek.

Summary: Reading Greek is not only effective for maintaining and developing your Greek skills; it can also be done regularly without a huge time commitment.

Blog Responses

Shane	Thanks Con. Helpful hint, though I sometimes feel I never really learnt Greek well enough in the first place to keep it up — I just satisfied my examiners then moved on, with the odd reference to the language every now and then. What would you recommend for the person who needs serious review?
Con Campbell	Thanks, Shane, that’s an important issue, and I think I’ll address it in a future post. Stay tuned!
Mark Stevens	Thank you for this very encouraging post. As a minister with little spare time to spend hours reviewing it is nice to know my “little bit” every day helps. I personally try to read a bit in my morning Bible reading. I would be interested to know what you think of using software such as Logos to help the process of reading Greek.
Gazman	Hey, Con, my problem is that the first thing that has gone from my grey matter is the vocab, especially reading books we didn’t cover at College (and even those we did, to be honest). This is one of my problems with trying to read every day, apart from my random nature that despises routine. I try and structurally chart the flow of each passage I preach on, as verb forms, prepositions, clause markers, etc. are still easily recognisable. Then I can just look up the words I don’t recognise much more easily (although preparing a series on 2 Peter has got my brain to bursting point). Do you reckon this might be helpful for others as well?
Con Campbell	Hi Gazman, thanks for your comments. I’ll address the issue of vocab down the track, but I think flowcharting is enormously helpful in its own right, and I think if it helps you to keep your Greek ticking over, then all the better. Mark, I’ll comment about software soon … (promises, promises).
Laura	“A little bit every day keeps it all ticking along. And it really only has to be a little. Half an hour reading Greek each day would be terrific, but even ten minutes would be great.” … Hence the Greek NT in my parents’ bathroom at home.
Con Campbell	lol!
Wayne Connor	Thanks Con. Would a word a day work?

Chapter 2

BURN YOUR
INTERLINEAR

The interlinear is a tool of the devil, designed to make preachers stupid.

One of the great joys of Christian ministry is to be able to open the Greek New Testament and prepare your sermon from what was written. It is a privilege that few people in our busy world have—to be set aside from other tasks to read the Bible carefully in order to preach God’s Word faithfully to others. Few disciplines bring greater reward than the careful comprehension of the text of Scripture, and it must not be left to translators or academics but be found in the pastoral leadership of the church.

Phillip D. Jensen

A tool of the devil? I’m kidding, of course — interlinears have their place. If you don’t know much Greek, and have no intention of getting good at it, then an interlinear can be useful to check a word here or there and see what Greek word underlies an English translation. But if you want to keep your Greek, if you want to develop your Greek, if you want to read the Greek New Testament, then take your interlinear outside, douse it with gasoline, and light a match.

Does that sound harsh? Let me explain why I think this way.

In the Gym

When I’m exercising with weights in the gym, there’s often a temptation to cheat. Some weight-lifting exercises isolate certain muscle groups so that you can really work out the part of the body that you want to train. One obvious example is the bicep curl. As you raise the dumbbell from a straight arm position toward your shoulder, bending at the elbow, your bicep is targeted and does most of the work. The trouble I have with the bicep curl, however, is that as my bicep gets tired, it’s really easy to cheat. If you swing the weight up to your shoulder, you let momentum lift the weight and take the pressure off the bicep. Or if you flare your elbow out to the side instead of keeping it close to your body, your shoulder will pick up the strain, again letting the bicep off the hook. That’s what I mean by “cheating” in the gym.

Well, what’s wrong with that? If the bicep is really hurting and I just can’t lift the weight anymore using the bicep, what harm is there in getting some help from other muscles? At least I’m still doing the bicep curl, right? I’ll finish off the set and feel good about it, rather than not complete the set. Surely, completion is better than failure, right?

Wrong!

First of all, weights do you no good if your muscles don’t hurt. Hurting them is the idea! Muscle strength develops by tearing muscle fibres in the gym and by your body rebuilding the muscle in the week that follows. But if you don’t really work that muscle and really tear those fibres, your body will have less to do in rebuilding the muscle; as a result your muscle will not get much stronger. It has to hurt.

Second, if you “cheat” in the gym, you may not work the muscle you’re aiming for at all. Who cares whether you finish the set if the muscle you’re training doesn’t get worked out? There’s no point in that. The other muscles that help you to cheat are just a crutch to support the weaker muscle, but it’s the weaker muscle that really needs to be challenged. Otherwise it will stay weak, because your stronger muscles will continue to do the work. Cheating with a crutch promotes weakness.

What’s the real issue here? I find that it’s the inner struggle at the gym that needs to be worked through properly. If I cheat, I might feel good about finishing the set, even though the exercise will not be truly effective. Or I can do the exercise properly, but risk not completing the set—and risk failure. So I’m faced with a decision. Do I want to feel good about myself, or do I want to do the job I came to do? At the gym, I need to be honest about where I’m really at. Pretending to be stronger than I am promotes weakness.

The Interlinear

An interlinear is like a crutch. Instead of relying on the Greek you know, an interl...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• CONTENTS
• Introduction: GREEK MAKES A DIFFERENCE
• Chapter 1: READ EVERY DAY
• Chapter 2: BURN YOUR INTERLINEAR
• Chapter 3: USE SOFTWARE TOOLS WISELY
• Chapter 4: MAKE VOCABULARY YOUR FRIEND
• Chapter 5: PRACTICE YOUR PARSING
• Chapter 6: READ FAST
• Chapter 7: READ SLOW
• Chapter 8: USE YOUR SENSES
• Chapter 9: GET YOUR GREEK BACK
• Chapter 10: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
• Appendix: GREEK MAKES A DIFFERENCE
• RESOURCES
• Copyright
• About the Publisher
• Share Your Thoughts