Gentlemen prefer Hebrew and Greek

According to the Economist:

Though some fundamentalists appear to believe that the Bible was written in English, for the more thoughtful (or pious) Christian, serious study of the New Testament or the early Christian church is impossible without first knowing alpha from omega. In America, Greek and Hebrew are standard parts of a Master of Divinity degree — necessary to become a minister in most respectable Protestant denominations.

I envy reporters. They get to make stuff up. I want a list of those respectable denominations.

HT: James Davila

Comments

[D. P.]

My current church is affiliated with a respectable denomination, although I attended a Southern Baptist seminary ;-)

[JohnFH]

Good one, Darrell.

[Looney]

Maybe we had this conversation before, but I have been severely traumatized by trying to communicate in foreign languages as part of my job, in spite of learning and practicing over a period of years. It seems most people (or maybe just Americans, or just me) can never be fully bi-lingual. Is one or two quarters of Greek and Hebrew with no follow on really beneficial? Or are we just kidding ourselves?

[JohnFH]

Learning a language well is a strenuous undertaking. It's like becoming an accomplished piano, violin, or chess player.

The ideal needs to be held up to those who are young, or at least young at heart, and opportunities provided for them to learn. There is so much that could be done in this sense that has not been done.

[Claudia]

Here's a question for you Greek language experts. I'm studying modern Greek (haven't gotten very far), but have a Greek son-in-law who tells me the plural of theophilus would be theophiloi. But is there a better spelling? An English version, as in theologians? Just musing on the two pursuits.

[Anne]

Hi there

Well, I don't know if Lutherans are a "respectable Protestant denomination" or not, but you can't be a pastor without being able to at least muddle through in both Greek and Hebrew.

I don't think the point is full fluency, I think the point is to spot the times when the English doesn't really match the original. I once heard a nondenominational type preacher go on and on about "Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for" (etc). He emphasized the "now"ness of faith for about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, "now" isn't in the Greek ...

I think the point of an acquaintance with the original languages is to prevent that kind of mistake from the pulpits.

Take care & God bless
Anne / WF

[JohnFH]

Hi Anne,

I think it depends on what kind of Lutheran you are. (Those now called) ELCAs, it seems to me, have reduced language requirements over the last half-century. Is it really that different among Missouri and Wisconsin synod folk?

I am impressed, in my neck of the woods, by the number of Wisconsin synod pastors who read everyday a bit of Luther in German, OT in Hebrew, and NT in Greek, but they are the exception. Furthermore, I don't see that among Missouri Synod pastors very much. ELCA pastors are better read in the Fathers though - in translation.

It would be nice to see a dual-track introduced, such that it was guaranteed that a few pastors in every geographical area were master exegetes and completely comfortable with Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and German. Something like that approach is taken among RCs. It would be a step in the right direction.

[Whit]

Well, I guess neither the UMC nor the UCC are respectable, then! The UCC requires a unit of CPE instead, while the UMC requires 3 hours of evangelism class.

OTOH, if you want dual standing in the ELCA as a UCC pastor you need 2 semesters of Greek, and if you want to get dual standing in the PCUSA you need Greek, Hebrew and a biblical language exegesis class. Also, First Congregational UCC in Columbus will not hire a senior pastor without Greek and Hebrew knowledge and chose their present youth minister because she had taken the biblical languages.

[JohnFH]

That is fascinating, Whit.

There is another problem, however: most people who take a bit of Hebrew and Greek in seminary give it up once they are in ministry. No one has addressed this problem with true conviction.

If we really thought Hebrew and Greek were important for exegesis, and that the work of exegesis fundamental to the preaching of the Word, we would require ministers to be retested on their skills every 5 years. Or at least require continuing ed credits to be earned in exegesis classes that presuppose a knowledge of the languages.