on exegesis and translation

I’ve been reading Steve Runge’s Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis (Hendrickson, 2010), and thought he made an interesting comment about translating Greek connectives.  He writes,

Each Greek connective brings to bear a unique constraint upon the connected elements. This is true even where there is a series of connectives in a row, as in Phl 3:8 [sorry, can't give greek txt from my kindle].  Each connective plays a specific role, bringing its unique constraint to bear in the context.  The objecive is not to know how to translate the connective, but tounderstand how each one uniquely differs from another based on the function that it accomplishes in Greek.

Exegesis and exposition are all about are all about understanding the original and drawing out the meaning.  Translation is often an ill-suited medium for this, even though it is the one most commonly used.  One may have a  very clear understanding of something and till find it troublesome to capture all of the information in a translation.  Do not worry: exposition gives you the opportunity to elaborate aspects of a passage that cannot be well-aptured in tranlation. (19)

To me this just lends more support for the importance of knowlng and understanding how to work in the biblical languages.  Knowing how a word is to be translated when onw understands the function of the word in Greek.

The King Jesus Gospel

What do you think?

Looks like it could be a good book and goes along the lines of some stuff I have been reading on Tim Gombis’s blog. You can pre-order the book here: The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited (Zondervan, 2011).

The Ten Commandments a solution to the world’s problems?

that is what Dennis Prager thinks.  I think he could be on to something!    He has written a column about this and shares his thoughts about each commandment. He starts out saying quite forthrightly:

There is only one solution to the world’s problems, only one prescription for producing a near-heaven on earth.

It is 3,000 years old.

And it is known as the Ten Commandments.

Properly understood and applied, the Ten Commandments are really all humanity needs to make a beautiful world. While modern men and women, in their hubris, believe that they can and must come up with new ideas in order to make a good world, the truth is there is almost nothing new to say.

If people and countries lived by the Ten Commandments, all the great moral problems would disappear.

Or, to put it another way, all the great evils involve the violation of one or more of the Ten Commandments.

He goes on then, to enumerate his thoughts on the benefits of and possibilities of following/keeping each of the commandments.  Now, please note, Mr Prager is Jewish but, so far as I know, not Christian, though he vouches for and advocates the promotion of traditional/historic “Judeo-Christian” values as being the best which society should follow for this to be a better world.  So, he is a commentator and not a Theologian per se, so his comments are brief and general and not meant to be scholarly.  And that is just fine.  Like I said, I think he is on the right track.  The only caveat I might add is the necessity of universal acknowledgement and recognition of Jesus Christ of Nazareth as Messiah, Savior and Lord of all creation!

Okay, fine, I know that Jesus sermon on the Mount trumps the Ten Commandments but I think in a general sense they are good and necessary to follow/keep.

Read on and let me know what you think.

 

on doing exegesis well

it involves much textual work, but maybe even greater background work.

listen to this short clip showing a bit of banter between John Piper and Don Carson:

Mastered By the Book from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

I side with Carson in this video and even want to assert that I think if one does his or her “homework” well, he or she may not need 10 hours of time in the text necessarily. I feel as if Piper is making a false dichotomy between the need for textual work and the need to do much background work. Even further, I would go opposite of Piper and think the person who does a lot of background work on the text may do better in their textual work than the person who spend all their time in the text with little to minimal background work. I say this because I feel the more one knows what is going on “around the text” that is, the better one understands the “context,” i.e., that which goes with the text, the more effectively can work and handle the text because doing textual work involves more than just doing outlines and word studies and so on. Words do not mean anything unless we know what is going on in the larger frame of things.

Well, that is how I see it anyhow… what about you?

NT Greek text of the day

where is it?

³ ημεν γάρ ποτε καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀνόητοι, ἀπειθεῖς, πλανώμενοι, δουλεύοντες ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς ποικίλαις, ἐν κακίᾳ καὶ φθόνῳ διάγοντες, στυγητοί, μισοῦντες ἀλλήλους. ⁴ ὅτε δὲ ἡ χρηστότης καὶ ἡ φιλανθρωπία ἐπεφάνη τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεοῦ, ⁵ οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ ἃ ἐποιήσαμεν ἡμεῖς ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀνακαινώσεως πνεύματος ἁγίου, ⁶ οὗ ἐξέχεεν ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς πλουσίως διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, ⁷ ἵνα δικαιωθέντες τῇ ἐκείνου χάριτι κληρονόμοι γενηθῶμεν κατ’ ἐλπίδα ζωῆς αἰωνίου. ⁸ Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος, καὶ περὶ τούτων βούλομαί σε διαβεβαιοῦσθαι, ἵνα φροντίζωσιν καλῶν ἔργων προΐστασθαι οἱ πεπιστευκότες θεῷ. ταῦτά ἐστιν καλὰ καὶ ὠφέλιμα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις:

Thoughts about it all?

Source of the Greek Script

On Greek Syntax

No, not sin tax you silly!  Syntax, you know, that feature of grammar that helps understand how words, phrases, clauses, sentences and so on relate to each other? That kind of syntax.

In learning language, it is indispensable.  Learning a few Greek or Hebrew word studies or even learning a year of Greek isn’t going to be enough.  You have to learn Greek syntax to really get at the meaning and function of the language.

Rich Erickson says in his book, A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Exegesis: Taking the Fear out of Critical Method (IVP Academic, 2005), he writes:

Be sure of this: without a working knowledge of New Testament Greek syntax we cannot hope to understand the Greek New Testament.

It’s true.  Words don’t have meaning, meanings have words, and words can only mean something in relationship to other words so it is important to get familiarized with the basics of syntax for Koine Greek, if you want to understand the Greek New Testament.

A couple must have books with regard all this are:

Dan Wallace’s Basics of New Testament Syntax, The (Zondervan, 2000)

and

Waltke – O’Conner’s An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Eisenbrauns, 1990).

To make best use of these, consult the scripture index for the verse you are working on at the moment to see if they have any particular syntactical insights you can use in studying the passe being worked on.

Blessings,

must have book on NT Exegesis

Richard Erickson’s A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Exegesis: Taking the Fear out of Critical Method (IVP Academic, 2005), might be titled as a “beginner” book but you’d be wrong to think you don’t need it if you are past “beginner” stage… indeed, you’d be wrong.    If you are a Pastor or Bible teacher…  you simply must have this book!  Getting this book will help you be tutored in textual criticism (with actual examples), Syntactical and Discourse Analysis (actual examples), info on the various genre of the New Testament, general exegetical method, and so on.  It may seem basic, but I think you’d be surprised.   Don’t think about it, get it!  :-)

got a couple books

thanks to those who buy stuff though the amazon links I put up.  I appreciate your willingness to do that.

So, one thing that is important to me is being able to exegete the Bible from the original languages, so far as I am able.  Because of this I get books that help me in this venture.  One that I got was:

Richard Erickson’s A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Exegesis: Taking the Fear out of Critical Method (IVP Academic, 2005).  Here is a description:

Let’s face it. Just the word exegesis puts some of us on edge. We are excited about learning to interpret the Bible, but the thought of exegetical method evokes a chill. Some textbooks on exegesis do nothing to overcome these apprehensions. The language is dense. The concepts are hard. And the expectations are way too high. However, the skills that we need to learn are ones that a minister of the gospel will use every week. Exegesis provides the process for listening, for hearing the biblical text as if you were an ordinary intelligent person listening to a letter from Paul or a Gospel of Mark in first-century Corinth or Ephesus or Antioch. This book by Richard Erickson will help you learn this skill. Thoroughly accessible to students, it clearly introduces the essential methods of interpreting the New Testament, giving students a solid grasp of basic skills while encouraging practice and holding out manageable goals and expectations. Numerous helps and illustrations clarify, summarize and illuminate the principles. And a wealth of exercises tied to each chapter are available on the web. This is a book distinguished not so much by what it covers as by how: it removes the “fear factor” of exegesis. There are many guides to New Testament exegesis, but this one is the most accessible–and fun!

Perhaps it is a beginner edition, but given I had to toss a lot books a while ago, I needed to get some new ones and some beginner editions are worth having and this is one of those worth having.

The other one I got based off a recommendation from my friend and blogger Luke Geraty:

Gerald Mann’s Why does Jesus make me nervous?: Taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously (Word Books, 1980).   Don’t know much about it.  He like it, it was cheap, so I wanted to check it out. 

Well, thanks again for going through my amazon links to get stuff.  I appreciate it.

Blessings,

good tips on starting seminary

from Dave Black of SEBTS. On Friday, August 5th at 12:06 PM he wrote the following on his blog:

I know of several students who are beginning their seminary studies this fall. Believe me, your first semester is likely to be your most challenging. So, for what they are worth, here are seven tips for those just starting seminary:

1) Be prepared to work and to work hard. Seminary is usually harder than college. Much harder. The expectations are high, and the requirements heavy. So be prepared to learn self-discipline and good study habits as well as theology and missions.

2) Consider a reduced class load for your first semester. That is, instead of taking 15 hours, take 12 (or even 9). Allow yourself some time to get over the initial hump of adjusting to graduate studies. Four classes will keep you plenty busy.

3) Buy a day planner and use it. Don’t ever wing it, schedule-wise. Be sure to write out your weekly assignments for each course you are taking, and then review your schedule frequently to make sure nothing is slipping through the cracks. Know your due dates, and keep them.

4) Get to know your professors outside of the classroom. This is essential! Profs are usually eager to put names with faces but they often have too many students to do this well. For myself, my office door is always open, and I would love to meet you in person, whether or not you are a first semester student. So take some time to become acquainted with your teachers. And then be sure to go to them during the semester with your questions.

5) Take the languages first. Yes, I recognize that Greek and Hebrew are not usually prerequisites for theology courses or even for NT and OT Introduction. But if your professor is anything like me, you will be hearing lots of Greek and Hebrew in even the most basic general ed classes, and the more of the discussion you can follow, the better.

6) Use the library. Get to know its ins and outs. Take a guided tour and then make use of its ample resources. Librarians are some of the most helpful people on any campus. They are eager and able to help you with your research. Use them.

7) Finally, take a mission trip at least once during the semester. I do, and it is a constant reminder to me that inflow requires outflow. After all, you are learning to serve other people, and the best learning is by doing. Your “mission trip” might be a visit to the local soup kitchen, or it may be to some faraway country. The “where” doesn’t really matter. As my friend Alvin Reid puts it, “Life is a mission trip; take it!”