BA Ancient History

The course uses digital and print resources to bring you from beginner’s level up to being able to read and interpret any part of the New Testament in Greek with use of those resources. That involves gaining a basic but broad knowledge of NT Greek. It also involves gaining familiarity with, and understanding of, digital and printed Greek NT texts and of digital and print resources for understanding those texts.

A particular aim is to learn to critically navigate online digital resources, which have differing characteristics and are often supplied by providers with particular religious or other interests. To structure learning of the Greek, the course progresses through the chapters of Jeremy Duff, The Elements of New Testament Greek, with lectures introducing and reinforcing material, alongside supported study of the book.

By the end of the course you should be able to translate sentences and short NT passages from Greek to English, with help from a range of resources. You should also be able to make use of the Greek you have learned to interpret aspects of the text.

• to provide an understanding of the main grammar and vocabulary of the Greek of the New Testament so that you will be able to read and interpret the Greek New Testament with (limited) use of suitable aids such as a dictionary
• to provide an understanding of selected interpretative issues that relate to the original language of New Testament

 

Small group lecture/seminar; weekly homework exercises.

1. demonstrate familiarity with, and understanding of, digital and printed editions of the Greek New Testament and of related documents such as manuscripts
2. demonstrate familiarity with, and understanding of, digital and printed resources for interpreting the Greek New Testament.
3. recall and use vocabulary commonly found in the New Testament.
4. use the basic rules of New Testament Greek grammar, being able to identify and understand the main types of word-forms.
5. demonstrate understanding of most New Testament Greek sentence formations.

1. learn and recall a useful body of vocabulary, alongside learning to accurately use resources to access further vocabulary and other aspects of language.
2. demonstrate understanding of grammatical forms in a language other than English.
3. 
   interpret a text in a language other than English.
4. critically assess available digital and printed resources for NT Greek.

1. locate and use vocabulary and grammatical information in tables and other forms,
2. write in a non-Roman script.
3. successfully navigate and use a range of digital and printed resources.
    

1. find, select and successfully use a range of digital and printed resources.
2. organise your work to tackle a learning task, with many elements, that extends over a whole academic year.
3. demonstrate persistence in learning.
4. use knowledge of Greek to understand a range of words in English, especially technical ones.
    

Assessment task	Formative or summative	Weighting (if summative)
Discussion of written translation exercises from Duff.	Formative	0%
Class test 1, semester one. This will test translation of Greek sentences and short sections from the New Testament, using basic vocabulary and grammar.	Summative	15%
Class test 2, semester two. This will test efficient use of resources to translate more complex sections of the New Testament	Summative	15%
Project, semester two. You will translate and carry out interpretation of a short section of Greek New Testament text, demonstrating use of a range of digital and print resources	Summative	70%

Feedback method	Formative or Summative
Oral feedback on translation exercises.	Formative
Written and oral feedback on the two class tests	Summative and formative
Written feedback on the project	Summative

 

• J. Duff, The Elements of New Testament Greek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Third edition, 2005)
• The website http://www.nt-greek.net/home.html supplements Duff by providing PowerPoint slides pertaining to the grammar, practice, and exercises in the textbook
• Many other valuable resources can be found in the Greek NT Gateway section of http://www.ntgateway.com