Resumen de Reviving the Teaching of Dead Languages: The Case of Greek in Modern Christian Education
This is a paper about the use and usefulness of the Greek language in the history of the European and American education down to the 21st century. The most important questions posed in this research include: is the teaching of Greek a barren field from a pragmatic and spiritual point of view, and what are the principles of teaching and learning Greek that enhance the possibility of acquiring Greek in such a way to facilitate the holistic development of the students and prepare them for an effective service to the world? The pur-pose of the study is to raise awareness among the Christian teachers of Greek about how valuable Greek language is for understanding the New Testament thought and culture, and some flaws in the process of teaching which can be remedied.
The main claim of the study is that learning Greek is not more problematic to the development of practical abilities and the spiritual formation of the learners than many other fields of education. For instance, if the Greek classics seem to emanate a harmful influence over the mind, because of authors who wrote morally questionable literature, the same is true about literature in any language or about thinkers who wrote in modern languages texts of a suspicious moral quality. If dead languages do not seem to prepare well for real life beyond college, so it is true about other educational fields which are less practical than others. If learning Greek favors the development of a boastful self-esteem and create an elitist profile to be desired, it is not less true about other disciplines. As Paul said, “knowledge [in general] puffs up” (1 Cor 8,1).
The study will analyze how the Greek language is to be taught and propose ways to improve its acquisition, so that its usefulness for personal spirituality and Christian preachingand teaching become obvious.
