I am based in Australia and teaching myself attic and koine greek, in order to read the new testament, septuagint and classics. I am using "Athenaze", and other NT Greek books and have bought an ebook of yours. I find your grammar explanations very useful, but I follow other classical greek youtubers , some of whom try to emulate how ancient greek was actually pronounced (e.g. Luke Ranieri, who treat it like learning a modern language) rather than the Erasmian pronunciations you and many Bible teachers use. Also the order of the cases for learning is different in Australia, UK and NZ to that of North American teachers. I find both these differences a bit confusing.
Many thanks for taking the time to provide such a well-thought-through observation about the differences between the pronunciation used in NT Greek and Classical Greek education and academic discourse. You have highlighted something that happens on UA-cam: there can be crossover viewers who move between videos from different “bubbles” (I hesitate to use the term “silo” - as that is usually used in a negative way in academic circles), and differences between the various academic bubbles are evident for all to see. NT Greek exists in a definite bubble. It is constrained by the small volume of text that is found in the NT, which consists of texts which come from a quite narrow time-period, and deal with a specific set of stories and ideas. It therefore has a much-reduced vocabulary, grammar and syntax when compared to classical Greek. It is also constrained in that it is found in programs training pastors and priests, and thus is a subject that is taught as a tool used for something else - exegesis of the NT, which in its turn, is used as input into wider theological discussion. Teaching NT Greek as a language in a degree program designed to train pastors and priests means facing pressures from other teaching colleagues who would like to reduce the amount of class time spent on a subject perceived as to have less on an immediate professional impact (something I strongly dispute, as you might imagine), so that more time can be devoted to subject content of more immediate use to future pastors and priests. It also faces pressure from students who enrolled in the course to learn something else, ministry (not languages). What has this got to do with pronunciation? It helps in the decision a teacher of NT Greek makes as to whether to use modern Greek as a pronunciation guide, for example. While some teachers do use modern Greek as a guide to how they pronounce words from the Greek NT, most teachers of NT Greek use some form of the Erasmian pronunciations, as this convention at least provides a pronunciation of words that allows the underlying spelling of the word to be envisioned, something not always true of NT Greek. Teachers of NT Greek need to take advantage of every way to make studying their subject easier for non-specialists who are studying Greek as a steppingstone for other units. In the NT Greek studies “bubble”, Erasmian pronunciation is the default convention, and one widely used by the sizeable body of academics that work in the field of New Testament studies, a reasonably numerous tribe. The Erasmian pronunciation originated from classical Greek pronunciation, and it will be interesting to observe in the future whether the more recent trends in the pronunciation of Greek used in classical Greek studies that you mention make much headway in NT studies. I thoroughly agree, though, that the different order of cases used in NT Greek textbooks when compared to classical Greek textbooks is very frustrating. I don’t imagine that either field is going to change that order, though, as it is pretty deeply entrenched.
Many thanks for taking the time to provide such a well-thought-through observation about the differences between the pronunciation used in NT Greek and Classical Greek education and academic discourse. You have highlighted something that happens on UA-cam: there can be crossover viewers who move between videos from different “bubbles” (I hesitate to use the term “silo” - as that is usually used in a negative way in academic circles), and differences between the various academic bubbles are evident for all to see. NT Greek exists in a definite bubble. It is constrained by the small volume of text that is found in the NT, which consists of texts which come from a quite narrow time-period, and deal with a specific set of stories and ideas. It therefore has a much-reduced vocabulary, grammar and syntax when compared to classical Greek. It is also constrained in that it is found in programs training pastors and priests, and thus is a subject that is taught as a tool used for something else - exegesis of the NT, which in its turn, is used as input into wider theological discussion. Teaching NT Greek as a language in a degree program designed to train pastors and priests means facing pressures from other teaching colleagues who would like to reduce the amount of class time spent on a subject perceived as to have less on an immediate professional impact (something I strongly dispute, as you might imagine), so that more time can be devoted to subject content of more immediate use to future pastors and priests. It also faces pressure from students who enrolled in the course to learn something else, ministry (not languages). What has this got to do with pronunciation? It helps in the decision a teacher of NT Greek makes as to whether to use modern Greek as a pronunciation guide, for example. While some teachers do use modern Greek as a guide to how they pronounce words from the Greek NT, most teachers of NT Greek use some form of the Erasmian pronunciations, as this convention at least provides a pronunciation of words that allows the underlying spelling of the word to be envisioned, something not always true of NT Greek. Teachers of NT Greek need to take advantage of every way to make studying their subject easier for non-specialists who are studying Greek as a steppingstone for other units. In the NT Greek studies “bubble”, Erasmian pronunciation is the default convention, and one widely used by the sizeable body of academics that work in the field of New Testament studies, a reasonably numerous tribe. The Erasmian pronunciation originated from classical Greek pronunciation, and it will be interesting to observe in the future whether the more recent trends in the pronunciation of Greek used in classical Greek studies that you mention make much headway in NT studies. I thoroughly agree, though, that the different order of cases used in NT Greek textbooks when compared to classical Greek textbooks is very frustrating. I don’t imagine that either field is going to change that order, though, as it is pretty deeply entrenched.
I am based in Australia and teaching myself attic and koine greek, in order to read the new testament, septuagint and classics. I am using "Athenaze", and other NT Greek books and have bought an ebook of yours. I find your grammar explanations very useful, but I follow other classical greek youtubers , some of whom try to emulate how ancient greek was actually pronounced (e.g. Luke Ranieri, who treat it like learning a modern language) rather than the Erasmian pronunciations you and many Bible teachers use. Also the order of the cases for learning is different in Australia, UK and NZ to that of North American teachers. I find both these differences a bit confusing.
Many thanks for taking the time to provide such a well-thought-through observation about the differences between the pronunciation used in NT Greek and Classical Greek education and academic discourse. You have highlighted something that happens on UA-cam: there can be crossover viewers who move between videos from different “bubbles” (I hesitate to use the term “silo” - as that is usually used in a negative way in academic circles), and differences between the various academic bubbles are evident for all to see. NT Greek exists in a definite bubble. It is constrained by the small volume of text that is found in the NT, which consists of texts which come from a quite narrow time-period, and deal with a specific set of stories and ideas. It therefore has a much-reduced vocabulary, grammar and syntax when compared to classical Greek. It is also constrained in that it is found in programs training pastors and priests, and thus is a subject that is taught as a tool used for something else - exegesis of the NT, which in its turn, is used as input into wider theological discussion. Teaching NT Greek as a language in a degree program designed to train pastors and priests means facing pressures from other teaching colleagues who would like to reduce the amount of class time spent on a subject perceived as to have less on an immediate professional impact (something I strongly dispute, as you might imagine), so that more time can be devoted to subject content of more immediate use to future pastors and priests. It also faces pressure from students who enrolled in the course to learn something else, ministry (not languages). What has this got to do with pronunciation? It helps in the decision a teacher of NT Greek makes as to whether to use modern Greek as a pronunciation guide, for example. While some teachers do use modern Greek as a guide to how they pronounce words from the Greek NT, most teachers of NT Greek use some form of the Erasmian pronunciations, as this convention at least provides a pronunciation of words that allows the underlying spelling of the word to be envisioned, something not always true of NT Greek. Teachers of NT Greek need to take advantage of every way to make studying their subject easier for non-specialists who are studying Greek as a steppingstone for other units. In the NT Greek studies “bubble”, Erasmian pronunciation is the default convention, and one widely used by the sizeable body of academics that work in the field of New Testament studies, a reasonably numerous tribe. The Erasmian pronunciation originated from classical Greek pronunciation, and it will be interesting to observe in the future whether the more recent trends in the pronunciation of Greek used in classical Greek studies that you mention make much headway in NT studies. I thoroughly agree, though, that the different order of cases used in NT Greek textbooks when compared to classical Greek textbooks is very frustrating. I don’t imagine that either field is going to change that order, though, as it is pretty deeply entrenched.
Many thanks for taking the time to provide such a well-thought-through observation about the differences between the pronunciation used in NT Greek and Classical Greek education and academic discourse. You have highlighted something that happens on UA-cam: there can be crossover viewers who move between videos from different “bubbles” (I hesitate to use the term “silo” - as that is usually used in a negative way in academic circles), and differences between the various academic bubbles are evident for all to see. NT Greek exists in a definite bubble. It is constrained by the small volume of text that is found in the NT, which consists of texts which come from a quite narrow time-period, and deal with a specific set of stories and ideas. It therefore has a much-reduced vocabulary, grammar and syntax when compared to classical Greek. It is also constrained in that it is found in programs training pastors and priests, and thus is a subject that is taught as a tool used for something else - exegesis of the NT, which in its turn, is used as input into wider theological discussion. Teaching NT Greek as a language in a degree program designed to train pastors and priests means facing pressures from other teaching colleagues who would like to reduce the amount of class time spent on a subject perceived as to have less on an immediate professional impact (something I strongly dispute, as you might imagine), so that more time can be devoted to subject content of more immediate use to future pastors and priests. It also faces pressure from students who enrolled in the course to learn something else, ministry (not languages). What has this got to do with pronunciation? It helps in the decision a teacher of NT Greek makes as to whether to use modern Greek as a pronunciation guide, for example. While some teachers do use modern Greek as a guide to how they pronounce words from the Greek NT, most teachers of NT Greek use some form of the Erasmian pronunciations, as this convention at least provides a pronunciation of words that allows the underlying spelling of the word to be envisioned, something not always true of NT Greek. Teachers of NT Greek need to take advantage of every way to make studying their subject easier for non-specialists who are studying Greek as a steppingstone for other units. In the NT Greek studies “bubble”, Erasmian pronunciation is the default convention, and one widely used by the sizeable body of academics that work in the field of New Testament studies, a reasonably numerous tribe. The Erasmian pronunciation originated from classical Greek pronunciation, and it will be interesting to observe in the future whether the more recent trends in the pronunciation of Greek used in classical Greek studies that you mention make much headway in NT studies. I thoroughly agree, though, that the different order of cases used in NT Greek textbooks when compared to classical Greek textbooks is very frustrating. I don’t imagine that either field is going to change that order, though, as it is pretty deeply entrenched.
Thx. This is well done.