From: David L. Moore (dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Mon Jul 22 1996 - 12:25:19 EDT
Edward Hobbs wrote:
>
> From: LUCY::EHOBBS "Edward Hobbs" 20-JUL-1996 12:08:31.42
> To: IN%"bla00161@mail.wvnet.edu"
> CC: EHOBBS
> Subj: RE: NT scholarship
>
> Micheal, you wrote:
>
> >On the other hand could it be that we're overlooking the tremendous
> contributions to Greek and NT studies made by Roman Catholic scholars
> >in Spanish in particular. I find excellent materialcoming out of Spain.
> >I wonder if perhaps Edwards Hobbs and others are aware of this type
> >of NT and Greek scholarship. Here is an excellent way of keeping in
> >touch with the Spanish language.
>
> Conozco la revista _Filologia Neotestamentaria_. =BFPod=EDa usted=
> recomendar
> otras fuentes de informaci=F3n sobre griego y nuevo testamento escritas=
> en castellano?
>
> Muchas gracias.
>
> Micheal Palmer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Micheal,
> Your belated response to John Oaklands' post responding to my
> comment on NT scholarly output in Spanish compared to German prompts me to
> try once more to make my point, which has been misunderstood repeatedly.
> Let me preface it by once more stating that I read Spanish, easily
> and fluently--better than my German or French for example, though I spent a
> year in Marburg with Bultmann (and visit French vineyards and wineries with
> pleasure). I love the Spanish language; I have not put it down, nor have I
> put down Spanish scholarship. I have hosted Spanish scholars during my 24
> years in Berkeley, and my dialogue with Luis Alonso-Schoekel in 1974 is in
> print. I read the production of Spanish-writing scholars.
> I cannot believe, nevertheless, that Spanish Biblical scholarship
> has produced more than a small fraction of the output of serious, important
> work done in German--and that was my point when the question was raised
> about learning languages for reading scholarly work in their original
> form. If one already knows Spanish, wonderful! (I did, and use it--not
> 10% as much as I am forced to read German, which I find to be a much more
> difficult language, but I do read most of the authors mentioned, know some
> of them, and even hosted some of them with my wine-cellar at home.)
> There is also serious work in Italian. I have not heard it being
> pushed on this List, probably because fewer people read it. Serious work
> is being done in Japanese; but I cannot read Japanese, nor can most of my
> colleagues (the one who IS Japanese is sometimes a big help!). Must we
> learn Japanese to deal with this material?
> The question addressed was: What languages MUST I learn, and become
> comfortable in, to be a serious NT scholar? The issue was posed in the
> context of the enormous linguistic demands made on NT scholarship, and the
> lengthy time necessary to master those languages. The languages
> one already knows will be a help (and think of the tremendous boost
> received by Edgar Krentz, growing up with spoken German!); but in
> planning one's expenditure of time for the minimal requirements, the
> first consideration ought to be the volume of scholarship--of high
> quality--in any given language.
>
> Edward Hobbs
Although I do agree with Dr. Hobbs that in reference to gaining
access to extant scholarship, German, French (was he recommending this as
well as German?) and English are probably the first languages of choice,
I would point out something that I believe was alluded to by someone in
an earlier post.
Latin America is experiencing a spiritual awakening. Most of
what is happening there is that nominal Roman Catholics are coming into a
living faith as Evangelical Christians. Some of this is taking place
within the Roman Catholic Church as movements of charismatic renewal, but
the greater part of this movement, which is demographically more
important for that part of the world than was the Protestant reformation
for Europe, is represented by those who are coming to an Evangelical
Protestant faith.
These churches put great emphasis on the Scripture as the
legitimate guide of true religion. And, in part because of this biblical
emphasis, I would not be surprised to see a flowering of biblical
scholarship in Latin America in the coming century especially as the
revival that is taking place there begins to produce its own scholars (a
process that has already begun) and as more highly educated sectors of
society are impacted with the Evangelical message.
So a young scholar who contemplates learning Spanish might want
to weigh, besides the matter of extant literature, the opportunity to
take part in the important biblical and theological dialogue that will
certainly take place in Latin America in the new century.
All the best,
-- David L. Moore Director Miami, Florida, USA Department of Education dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com Southeastern Spanish District http://www.netcom.com/~dvdmoore of the Assemblies of God
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