GREEK AND HEBREW PROPAEDEUTIC COURSES


Professors:

Roman LEBIEDZIUK(Greek, English course)
Roman LEBIEDZIUK (greco, corso in italiano)
Don McMAHON (Hebrew, English course)
Don McMAHON (ebraico, corso in italiano)

(5 hours weekly - I and II semester)

     To be admitted to the Licentiate program a candidate must either pass the qualifying examinations in Greek and Hebrew or successfully complete both semesters of the propaedeutic courses in those languages offered by instructors of the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The purpose of the propaedeutic courses in Greek and Hebrew is to prepare the student to take the courses in Greek A-B and Hebrew A-B-C and the exegesis courses in the New and Old Testament at the Biblical Institute.

The specific goals of the Greek course are as follows:

  • Mastery of the basic morphology of NT Greek
  • Command of a fundamental vocabulary
  • Knowledge of the more important points of syntax
  • Ability to translate simple sentences from Greek and into Greek
  • Facility in reading Greek out loud

     These specific goals are designed to result in the ability to read and understand the Greek text of the Gospels. The entire Gospels of Mark and John are read as part of the course. In the examinations in the second semester the student will be asked to translate a portion of one of these gospels without the use of a dictionary, as well as a portion of an unseen text from the New Testament with the use of a dictionary.

Necessary books:

  • J. Swetnam, An Introduction to the Study of New Testament Greek, Part I, Morphology, II ed. (Subsidia Biblica 16; Pontificio Istituto Biblico, Rome 1998).
  • An edition of the Greek New Testament. (e.g. The Greek New Testament [United Bible Societies, Stuttgart 1993]; or Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece [Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1995]). Any critical edition of the New Testament is permitted provided there is no translation in a modern language accompanying it.

Recommended books:

1. Lexicon

  • First choise is: Frederick W. Danker (ed.), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Third Edition based on Walter Bauer's Ghriechisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlischen Literatur, sixt edition, edited by Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, with Viktor Reichman, and on previous English editions by W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, and F.W. Danker (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London 2000).

2. Grammars and grammatical reference tools:

  • An up to date modern grammar is D.B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Zondervan, Grand Rapids 1996).

  • The best referential grammar of the NT is: F. Blass – A. Debrunner – R.W. Funk, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament (University of Chicago Press 1961). The newest German edition is F. Blass – A. Debrunner – F. Rehkopf, Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch (Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001).

  • Also useful is: J.H. Moulton – W.F. Howard – N. Turner, A Grammar of the New Testament Greek, 4 vols. (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh 1906-1976).

  • The best verse by verse resource for the second semester lectio cursiva is: M. Zerwick – M. Grosvenor, A Grammatical Analisys of the Greek New Testament (unabridged, 5th edition; Biblical Institute Press, Rome 1996) with its companion volume: M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek illustrated by examples (English edition adapted from the fourth Latin edition by Joseph Smith; Scripta Pontificii Instituti Biblici 114; Rome 1963 [photomechanical reedition 2001].

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The specific goals of the Hebrew course are as follows:

  • Mastery of the basic morphology of OT Hebrew
  • Command of a fundamental vocabulary
  • Knowledge of the more important points of syntax
  • Ability to translate simple exercises into Hebrew, and more complicated exercises from Hebrew
  • Facility in reading Hebrew out loud
  • Familiarity with Hebrew in transliteration.

     These specific goals are designed to result in the ability to read and understand simple narrative texts from the Hebrew Old Testament. The entire Book of Judges (except chap. 5) is read as part of the course. In the examinations in the second semester the student will be asked to translate a portion of Judges without the use of a dictionary, as well as a portion of an unseen text, from Hebrew prose narrative, with the use of a dictionary.

Necessary books:

  • T. Lambdin, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (New York 1971).
  • Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Stuttgart 1967-77).
  • A large dictionary of Old Testament Hebrew.

Recommended:

     A large grammar of Old Testament Hebrew [e.g., P. Joüon, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew. Translated and Revised by T. Muraoka (Pontificio Istituto Biblico, Roma 1991; reprint 1993, 1996)].

Exams and calendar:

     The norms for the exams of the propaedeutic courses are a bit different from those of the other courses. There are four exams during the year for each propaedeutic course, 2 each semester. Students must pass each exam with a minimum of 6/10. However, if the first exam (mid-term exam) is not passed the student can take the second exam in an attempt to make a passing average of the two exams. If any of the other three exams are not passed, the student must repeat the entire qualifying exam – which can be attempted only once. Said student may continue the course as an «auditor», with the professor’s consent.
     Only two marks are officially registered, one at the end of each semester; therefore the student need only sign up for the second and the fourth exam, and pay the required fee.
     Those who pass the examinations in only one of the languages must pass the other within 18 months.
     Classes meet five times a week (Thursday excluded). Please note that the propaedeutic courses do not always follow the calendar of the regular licentiate courses. A schedule of the propaedeutic classes and examinations will be provided at the beginning of the course.

     Class preparation is always required. Two or three hours of preparation for each Greek class, and three or four for each Hebrew class are a customary minimum needed to profit from the course. It is therefore not advisable that students taking both Propaedeutic Greek and Propaedeutic Hebrew enroll in any other course.
     Students from outside the Institute are welcome to enroll in the course but only on condition that they adapt themselves to the aim of the course in the context of the Biblical Institute. Such students are required to submit their academic programs either to the director of the propedeutic courses or to the Dean of the Biblical Faculty at the beginning of the academic year. Only with his approval will the student be allowed to register for the courses.
Registration for the courses takes place at the beginning of each semester. The propaedeutic course may be taken only once.

Observations for the first class:

     It would be useful for the students who have not previously studied Greek or Hebrew to learn the Greek and Hebrew alphabets before the course begins and acquire the ability to write and read the letters.

N.B.: In order to take part in the courses of the Preparatory Year it is necessary to have a good working knowledge of either Italian or English.

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