Is one semester of Greek or Hebrew in seminary better than none?

What an awful question. Stephen Cook takes up the matter here. Calvin Park addresses the same general subject here. Kevin Wilson raises the question here. Be sure to read the comments. The issue is not going away.

The best time to learn the biblical languages is while still in high school; failing that, while in college. It would be wise to encourage students who are thinking of seminary to study the languages before they get to seminary. It would be wise to reward them if they do. They might then participate in exegesis classes that are open to those with a degree of mastery of the requisite languages.

In Rome, they say, do as the Romans do. We’re not in Rome, but this is how it works at the seminary I attended, the Waldensian Theological Seminary in Rome.

Seminary amounts to six or seven years of training, including an obligatory year abroad in a modern foreign language. Seminary begins right out of high school. For most, that means arriving at seminary with 4 to 6 years of Greek and Latin behind them. Students are able to read the NT in Greek, and Augustine, Calvin, and Luther in Latin, right off the block.

If more students in the US, Canada, and elsewhere had the option of learning the biblical languages while in high school or college, and if they were encouraged to do so, the face of seminary education might change for the better.

Alongside second career students, a contingent of younger students might come into being, with Hebrew and/or Greek and/or Latin behind them, not in front of them, when they begin attending seminary.

In the Italian Protestant setting, if one has not attended a liceo classico where the languages and Western philosophy are taught in depth, it’s off to a year of propaedeutic training in the Waldensian valleys. In that setting, intensive Greek, Latin, and philosophy are the order of the day.

 

It might be wise for seminaries to offer a year of this kind, even if it is impractical to require it. In short, it’s possible to change things for some students without changing things for all.

If this was done, a contingent of pastors and laypeople with fluency in Hebrew and Greek might see the light of day. I fail to see a downside to that eventuality.

Comments

[Matt Karnes]

The problem with studying the languages in college is that they drag down GPAs. And that hurts ones chance of getting into grad school.

[JohnFH]

If I were in charge of admissions at a seminary, and a B student applied with 3 years of Hebrew and Greek behind him or her, I would admit him or her over an A student who had done nothing of the sort.

I might even offer such a B student a scholarship.

[tim bulkeley]

John, while the sort of scheme you outline sounds great, no one here can afford it, seminary students usually have children of their own, they give up one of the two breadwinners in the family for three years, and pay fees to cover three years of training, they can't afford more! So, please answer the question! Is a semester of language better than nothing - those are the choices MOST of our students (unless they plan to go on to PG work in biblical studies) must make.

[JohnFH]

One semester is better than none. In that case, it is better to teach students about the biblical languages, about language in general.

Tim, I take it from what you say that seminarians in NZ tend to be juggling school, work, and family all at the same time. That's often the case in the US and Canada as well.

At that point, all bets are off as far as learning a language like Hebrew or Greek unless that is the only new thing a student is learning in a given time frame.

That being the case, it's back to the drawing board. It's time to rethink seminary, and pre-seminary education, from the ground up.

It's not just a question of languages. The same issue comes up with respect to knowing any subject inside and out that relates to Jewish or Christian culture.

Doctors, lawyers, and accountants know their fields inside and out by the time they finish their schooling. It is common or required of them to specialize as well. Quite a bit of the foundational stuff they need they learn in high school and college.

I'm suggesting that a similar model needs to be considered for preparation for the ministry.

[Peter Kirk]

I was "rewarded" by London Bible College (equivalent to a US seminary, now renamed London School of Theology) with a year off my course for having already learned Greek. That is, I was accepted straight into the second year. The downside was that I missed the chance to study optional Hebrew - which I made up for later.