Thankful For Many Things
Well, my audit in Greek is finished and I'm thankful for a lot of things. I'm thankful for what I've learned, and I'm thankful that it's over ... for now. Studying Greek was really cool, but it definitely is not my forte. Had I actually taken the class for credit, I would have received a B in the course which is OK, but well below the goal that I set for myself. So I had to make a difficult decision
Going into the class I was perhaps a little skeptical of the benefit of learning the language. Of course, there is the joy of being able to begin reading the Bible in one of the original languages, but would it really make that big of a difference? A friend of mine had this to say about learning Greek, "The difference between studying the Bible in English versus Greek is like the difference between watching television in black and white versus high definition color." I think my friend hit the proverbial nail on the head with that analogy. I can see now how much clearer the pages of Scripture shine with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ when translating from the Greek. Mind you, I'm under no illusion that I've only begun to scratch the surface of my understanding of the language, but I've seen enough to appreciate the value.
So I have nothing but wonderful things to say about my experience with learning Greek and I'm looking forward to continuing my study of the language, but just not right now. The time commitment to studying a language is immense. Even though this was just an audit course for me, I spent far more time on this course than any other course that I've taken at DTS. This is to be expected, however, I just don't see that I'll have the kind of time necessary this Spring to get the most out of the class. So I'm going to basically try to keep reviewing what I've already learned and keep my skills sharp so I can develop a solid platform to continue in the near future. All in all, I have no regrets for stepping up and taking this course.
So, if you're planning on studying Greek at a seminary and you don't have any previous experience with the language or struggle like me with foreign languages, I'd recommend a slightly lower course load during the semester to offset the amount of time you'll need to dedicate to learning Greek. It's totally worth it, but it's a grind and takes a lot of time, commitment, and discipline.