Church Architecture, Languages

Seventh Friday of Easter

Friday is the day for me to respond to your comments. Thanks to all. Thanks to Pam and to Jennifer for their comments on crosses (and to Joe for his original question) and for their very kind and gracious words. Thanks also to Chris for his question about languages.

Yes, I definitely think University UMC should have a permanent cross. Joe and Pam, you might email the pastors and the worship committee (and probably the trustees) with this suggestion. Yes, every Christian Church should have a permanent cross. I would love to have a lot of other Christian art and Christian symbols in UMC churches as well. 

I've been thinking a lot lately about the first question in the Westminster Catechism:

Catechist: "What is the chief end of man?"

Catechumen: "The Chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

We Protestants are good at glorifying God with the auditory, not so good at glorifying God with the visual. In future blogs I'll talk about some beautiful, perhaps I should say glorious churches I have worshipped in, both here in the U.S. and in other countries. 

Also, in answer to another matter Pam raised. I do intend to continue the blog for the indefinite future. Response has been very positive. "Page views" is my only reliable tracker. Page views don't tell me how many people read the blog in a day but how many blogs were read that day. I suspect some folks might read all six blogs for the week in one day rather than reading one blog every day. Since the first couple of weeks, page views have varied from a low of 22 to a high of 98. I haven't computed the average but I think it would be a little over 40. Writing the blog is great fun for me, especially when I hear responses from you. It also gives an old retired Methodist preacher man the idea that he's still doing something to serve the Lord.

Now to Chris's question: "Christian, how were you able to keep up with Greek, Hebrew, Latin and other languages practice and fluency during this busy period in your life? I presume that several were required for your degrees but also assume that continued practice was necessary. 

Also, how many languages could Skip speak?" 

I once said in Sunday School that getting a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies takes longer than getting a doctorate in anything else. I saw a medical doctor in the class shaking her head "No." I still think I'm right, Meredith, but I'll put it this way. A Ph.D. in Biblical Studies takes long than any other Ph.D. The main reason is the languages. I started undergraduate school in September, 1963 and finished the Ph.D. in October, 1977. 

I had a good head start on languages. I had four years of very rigorous Latin in high school and two years of French. I had two years of Greek and two additional years of French in college. My biggest mistake was not taking German in college. I started Hebrew my first year of Divinity School and did two years. I resumed Greek my second year in Divinity School with reading courses on 2 Corinthians and Luke. After that I took two semesters of Greek Patristic reading. Greek Patristics are the Greek church fathers. We read all of the Apostolic Fathers writings in my first course (late first and early second century) and most of Justin Martyr (mid-second century) the next year. These were very difficult courses, difficult Greek with lengthy assignments. Class met once a week for 2 1/2 hours. I spent on average about 25 hours a week in prep for that one class. I was taking four classes at the time. I also took a semester of Aramaic (the language Jesus spoke), two semesters of Syriac (the Syrian Church Fathers is an entire stream of Patristics in itself). I also took a semester of Coptic (the last form of Ancient Egyptian). Some of this was in Divinity School, a three year Masters degree (M.Div.); some in Graduate School (Ph.D). 

Before we could apply for the Ph.D. program in Biblical Studies in the Graduate School (not Diviniuty School) at Duke (or anywhere else that had a Ph.D. program in Biblical Studies), we had to pass the GRE and the GRE standardized exams in French and in German. I did really well on the French exam. I took a one semester crash course in reading German. I passed the German exam barely. 

I should note that in grad level Biblical Studies courses, not language courses but courses on subjects like, say Paul's Theology, or Wisdom Literature of the OT, we did not use English translations at all. You brought your Greek NT or Hebrew Bible to class, were expected to be able to read and translate what was in it and to discuss it. You were also assigned books to read by Biblical scholars on those particular topics. Most of the assigned books were in English or English translation, but some were in French or German. It was the German ones that nearly killed me. And, of course, you had a 30+ page term paper in all of those courses.

Nerd that I am, I loved it all. I didn't get much sleep in all those years, but I learned a lot. I haven't fully answered Chris's question, but I'll save it for next Friday in case I don't  enough comments to respond to this coming week.

Faithfully

Christian