Why learn Greek?
Greek is the language of the New Testament. You may ask, "Why
can't I just use an English translation of the Bible?" You
can and will use English translations for studying and teaching the Bible.
But there are four important reasons why you should also study the Bible
in its original languages.
(1) Often
it is impossible to translate the full meaning and feeling of a sentence
from one language to another language. Many verses in the English
Bible do not communicate the true meaning of what the Bible really says.
After you learn the basics of Greek vocabulary and grammar, you will discover
treasures of gold in the Greek New Testament which you never saw before
in your reading of the English translation. These wonderful insights
will increase your faith and knowledge of your Savior, and you will want
to share these insights with the people you teach.
(2) Deaf
readers often use "easy English" versions of the Bible. Those versions
go beyond translating the text to interpreting the text.
These are not true translations; they are paraphrases. In a paraphrase,
the translator does not just tell us what the text says, but the translator
tells us what he thinks the text means. If you can study the
Bible in its original languages, then you can detect interpretation errors.
(3) Many
non-Christian religious groups claim that their teachings represent the
meaning of the original Greek text of the New Testament. Your knowledge
of Greek can protect you from the deception of these false teachers.
(4) Sincere
Christians in various denominations disagree about important church doctrines
and practices, such as baptism and the Lord's Supper, or teachings about
End Times and gifts of the Holy Spirit. To best understand the Bible's
teaching about these topics, we must study the original Greek and Hebrew
text of the Bible, and examine each verse in its own context.
Curriculum
The Deaf Pah! Greek course uses a set of workbooks by Karen Mohs
titled Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek! Ms. Mohs wrote this
curriculum with home school students in mind. We chose it because (1)
this curriculum teaches Greek grammar in small steps, without a lot of confusing
English, and (2) this curriculum fits perfectly our method of instruction
in the Deaf Pah! program.
Note that Deaf Pah! Greek I uses Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!
Level 4, not Level 1. The reason for this is explained in the
video introduction and in the mentor's guide.
Both students and mentors (pastors) need to order the workbooks and answer
keys from the Ms. Mohs' website, www.greeknstuff.com.
(Mentors, before you send your order to Green'N'Stuff, please look in the
mentor's guide for a list of additional materials you will need to order
for each course.)
Other course materials are PDF files which you must download from
here -- the Deaf Pah! Greek website -- plus online videos which explain concepts in many of the lesson.
You may also use the online practice tools for each of the Deaf
Pah! Greek courses.
Study schedule
The Deaf Pah! Greek course is self-paced. You can progress at your
own speed. The study guide lists in detail everything you need to cover
in each lesson. Please do not skip any of the assigments. This
is very important. It will help you if you write a check mark in
the box by each assignment in the lesson schedule when you complete it.
After you write each assignment, check your answers with the answer key.
If you find that you don't fully understand the concept, keep practicing
until you get right every time. Don't continue to the next lesson until
you are confident that you know the material.
Meet with your mentor every week. He/She will give you a quiz, answer
your questions, and introduce new concepts that you will learn in the coming
week.
If you have questions...
Email me at: ronfriedrich@verizon.net