Wednesday 23 September 2009

Readings in Greek Using Bibleworks

This semester, I offered an elective course on Readings in Greek using Bibleworks. Two M Div students signed up for the course. Throughout this semester, we read portions of Greek text from Acts, John, James, Psalm 2 (LXX), 1 Clement and the Nicene Creed. The primary focus of this reading course is to increase the reading proficiency of Greek, have a better grasp of the command of Greek syntactical analysis, and to explore extra-biblical literature in Greek. At the same, much of our grammatical analysis was carried out using Bibleworks, and this also helped the students to familiarise themselves with the use of the software.


Since this was a small group discussion, we all decided that classes should be held in our favourite coffee place off campus, Starbucks. This provided a very relaxed and condusive environment for discussions, debates, and discovery of Greek grammar and syntax, lexical analysis, and sentence flow and diagramming. In adiditon, extended conversation on theology became part of the menu as well.


One of the requirements of the course was to do a project on some form of analysis of Greek syntax by using Bibleworks. And my two students produced a rather impressive joint project on "A Computer Aided Investigative Study on the Grammatical and Syntactical Usage of the Aorist and Present Imperatives, their Similarities and Distinctiveness in the Epistle According to St James." I look forward to interacting with their paper later this week.

If there is demand, I might consider offering this elective reading course in the future for those who have done Intermediate Greek. But be warned, there is a lot of hard work involved. But to those who are willing to work hard and dig deep into the Scripture, great discovery of treasure awaits them.

13 comments:

Tony Siew said...

Dear Kar Yong, this is a wonderful, something I like to offer at TTC. We have a 2nd year NT exegesis in Greek after one year of Greek 1 & 2 but something like what you are doing seems cool (great for Greek fans).

Kar Yong said...

Hi Tony,
Thanks for your comments. Yeah, I really enjoyed doing the course - I hope Greek came alive for the students, and for me, it was also a good learning opportunity as well.

The use of Bibleworks is really awesome! It really helps tekkie appreciate Greek language a bit more.

Lee Chee Keat said...

I wish I had that privilege to join in earlier. Anyway, yup....bring it on...I would like to sign up. No pain no gain.:)

Perng Shyang Teng said...

Pretty cool! Same feeling with CK.

Kar Yong said...

Hi Perng Shyang,
You graduated already. So how are you doing to take this course if offered? haha

Kar Yong said...

Hi Chee Keat,

I might offer it in Sem 2 next year if there is a demand for it.

Lee Chee Keat said...

What is the no. you need to fulfill the demand?

Kar Yong said...

Hi Chee Keat,
I'd prefer a small group, preferable 4-5 students, because of the nature of the course and the discussion and workload involved. A class bigger than 6 may be difficult.

逍遥子Odysseus said...

well done,,,sir

very innovative pedagogy

jdarlack said...

Hey there Kar Yong, would you and perhaps your students be willing to do a guest post on the BibleWorks blog about this class? I've already mentioned it, but folks might benefit for more information.

What did you do?
What would you change?
What did you accomplish?
What texts did you cover?
What do you think might be some of the drawbacks of teaching a readings course with BW? What do you think the strengths would be?

Let me know if you're open do doing something like this! jdarlack gcts edu.

Kar Yong said...

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the link to your blog. Both my students and I will be more than happy to share our experience - and I'll be in touch with you in a week or so. We are nearing the end of our academic year and hence, time is a bit tight on our side.

Kar Yong said...

Thanks, Sceptics.

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