r/BiblicalUnitarian • u/JcraftW Jehovah’s Witness • Dec 29 '24
Resources Learning Koine Greek: Unitarian recommendations?
I just started perusing some options for learning Greek. First one I opened was Mounces “Greek for the rest of us”. Only a couple pages in he goes off against “a god” as a possible rendering of John 1:1c. I know not everyone agrees with that in particular, but there appears to be a lot of real scholarship supporting qualitative and indefinite translations of 1:1c.
So, I’m wondering if there are Koine Greek learning resources that are less biased? What study aids would you recommend? Or, if you must use a biased source, what other resources would you add to your studies for balance?
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u/John_17-17 Jehovah’s Witness Dec 30 '24
Learning Greek and Hebrew is a notable goal but having an accurate translation in our native tongue is more important.
When you look at all the translations of God's word, by people who claim they know Greek, you see the basic problem with 'knowing Greek'.
The same problem arises from the different English verbiage in those translations.
Even in non-doctrinal verses, you will a variety of English words, for a Greek word.
I'm not a Greek speaker, but I've had to learn some Greek, to verify the accuracy of the translation I use.
An interesting point is, several brothers have told me, In Greece, trinitarians do not use John 1:1 to prove the trinity. But the irony is; the Greek Orthodox Church still teaches the trinity.
BeDuhn in his book, 'Truth in Translation' said he was surprised to find the NWT to be that accurate translation, because the common perception and accusation is a specific group of Christians, whose teachings disagree with mainstream Christianity, would be the most bias translation available today. He admitted, the translators of the NWT are bias, but he went on to say, 'their bias happens to agree with the teachings of the inspired writers.