καὶ τὰ λοιπά

SBL 2011 – A Report pt. 1

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Daniel R. Streett

SBL stands for the Society of Biblical Literature, which is the scholarly guild for scholars in the field of Biblical studies. Each year, the society holds its annual meeting the weekend before Thanksgiving. This year, the meeting was in San Francisco. It’s a beautiful city! Unfortunately, I was sick with laryngitis and a head cold the entire time I was there, so I didn’t feel much like sight-seeing. Someday, hopefully, I’ll make it back when I’m feeling better and there’s warmer weather.

What happens at an SBL meeting? Continue reading →

Posted in Announcements | Tagged James Asher, Pronunciation, SBL, Society of Biblical Literature, TPR | 3 Comments

“About” vs. “In” – Brandeis and Hebrew Immersion

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Daniel R. Streett

Check out this article about Brandeis University cutting their Hebrew major (HT: James Davila). Here are a couple of portions relevant for readers of my blog (emphasis mine):

Ringvald believes that the lack of students who choose to major in Hebrew is a result of the former major’s structure, which required students to take Near Eastern and Judaic Studies classes taught in English.Those classes include a foundational course in Judaic Studies and options such as Biblical Hebrew, Rabbinic Hebrew and Modern Hebrew literature. Though they often analyze Hebrew texts, such courses often serve as deterrent to students looking for total Hebrew immersion. Continue reading →

Posted in Greek Pedagogy | 6 Comments

Come, Eat, Speak Greek!

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Daniel R. Streett

Those of you who are attending SBL must be sure to attend the Greek lunch hosted by the Applied Linguistics Group. This is the first Greek lunch, so I look forward to seeing how many will show up and participate. Hopefully, it will be a fun, low-stress time to practice our Greek, learn some new words/phrases, and meet some new folks. Just grab your lunch at the food court and bring it over to the Intercontinental. It’ll be just like a real συπόσιον, minus the couches, drinking-games, slaves, flute-girls and general debauchery.

Continue reading →

Posted in Announcements | Tagged Conversational Greek, Greek Lunch, Lunch, Nerds, SBL, Society of Biblical Literature, Speaking Greek, Symposium | 2 Comments

An Early Christian Eucharistic Hymn Fragment (and a video!)

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Daniel R. Streett

Last year, I ran across an interesting essay in ZAC (Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum) by Thomas Scott Caulley that discussed a fragment of an early Christian hymn in P.Bodmer XII. The hymn followed Melito of Sardis’ Paschal Homily in the codex, and thus was often (mistakenly according to Caulley) attributed to Melito. While it may be only a part of a larger hymn, Caulley thinks it best to describe it as an excerpt, since it is self-contained.

Here’s the hymn Continue reading →

Posted in Songs | Tagged Hymns, Melito of Sardis, Music, Songs, Youtube | 2 Comments

Greek Jonah Comic Strip

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Daniel R. Streett

The Animated Hebrew site, the creation of Charles Grebe at Briercrest Seminary, has been around for a while, so you’ve probably heard of it. If you haven’t, you need to go check it out. Charles is sympathetic to living language approaches and has numerous audio, video and graphical resources on his site. My favorite is the Hebrew Jonah comic, which Charles developed from the comic strip version of Jonah produced by Philip Williams of Staircase Studio. Philip has also produced a comic book of the Elijah story.

Well, Charles’ work inspired me to develop a Greek version of the Jonah comic Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching Resources | Tagged Comic, Easy Reading, Jonah, LXX, Resources, Teaching Greek | 7 Comments

A Standardized Test for Communicative Koine Greek (Needed Resources)

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Daniel R. Streett

About the Series
This is part of an ongoing series where I discuss resources that should be developed to aid teachers and students in acquiring Koine Greek communicatively. In this installment, I address the need for a standardized test for Koine Greek.

Introduction
I think that once the communicative Koine movement gets off the ground in colleges and seminaries, it would be helpful to develop a standardized test for Koine Greek. Why have a standardized test? Continue reading →

Posted in Greek Pedagogy | Tagged Fluency, Greek Pedagogy, Needed Resources, Proficiency, Standardized Test, Teaching Greek, Testing | 8 Comments

BibleWorks for Rapid Reading, pt 2 (BibleWorks 9 Review)

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Daniel R. Streett

Introduction
In this series I am exploring some ways that the new BibleWorks 9 can be used, not simply as a tool for exegesis or Bible study, but as an aid to communicative learning and teaching. For a good overview and introduction to the features of BibleWorks 9, see David Instone-Brewer’s guide.

Rapid Reading and Comprehensible Input
Everyone who reads this blog knows that I think the way Greek is traditionally taught is not optimal. Continue reading →