Hybrid Hebrew at Briercrest

I am happy to announce two new developments in Briercrest College and Seminary’s “Living Language” Biblical Hebrew program.

(1) Semi-Intensive Format: This year for the first time we are offering our four-course (12 credit hour) Hebrew sequence in one year instead of two. Imagine beginning class in September at “Shalom!” and ending in April with a reading knowledge of Biblical Hebrew.

(2) Hybrid Option: We are opening enrolment to online students who will be able to join on-campus students over Zoom in our state-of-the-art hybrid classroom.

Our courses are ABHE and ATS-accredited, so if you are looking to complete language requirements at Briercrest or another college or seminary, but are not able to relocate to our campus in Saskatchewan, you can take all four courses online from the comfort of your home. (For my part, I can’t imagine why anyone interested in the Bible or considering pastoral ministry wouldn’t jump at the chance!)

A Note on our Communicative Approach: At Briercrest, we teach the biblical languages using a communicative or “living language” approach. Among other things, this means class will be conducted, as far as possible, in Biblical Hebrew. Students will spend most of their time in class listening to Biblical Hebrew, and they will learn to speak Biblical Hebrew as well as to read and write it.

This “living language” approach is different from how Biblical Hebrew has traditionally been taught in North America. In conventional language classes, the majority of class time is spent talking about Hebrew in English; students labour over analysing word forms, memorizing vocabulary by rote, and producing their own English translations. The traditional grammar-translation approach appeals only to a small percentage of analytical learners and even at the best of times tends to result in a superficial understanding about how the language works, not a knowledge of the language itself. (There is a reason why most students who study Hebrew in seminary do not succeed in maintaining a long-term reading knowledge of the language!) Our active communicative approach to learning Hebrew is geared to the way people naturally learn languages and results in much more exposure to the language. As a result, it leads to deeper and longer-lasting learning; it also appeals to a wider range of learning styles—and is more fun! (For more detail on this approach as it relates to Ancient Greek, see this post and follow the links back.)

Course Details and Fine Print:

• During the fall semester, classes will run M/T/W/Th at 10:40-11:55 a.m. and F, 1:00-2:15 p.m. CST.
• Homework expectations: Learning any language requires a significant time commitment. You should expect to invest @ 2 hours of homework / class. Most of the homework will consist of watching or listening to the outstanding resources produced by the Biblical Language Center (now part of Whole Word Institute). I can’t promise you a walk in the park; I can assure you that if you put in the time, you will have fun and you will learn.
• Most of the students in the class will be in-person on-campus. The hybrid model with an online option is a pilot project that will require sufficient online enrolment to proceed.

For more information, contact me.

 

Old Testament Faculty Position at Briercrest College

I am happy to report that Briercrest College is looking to fill a faculty position in Old Testament: 

Briercrest College invites applications for a full-time faculty position in the field of Biblical Studies - Old Testament commencing August 1st, 2022. 

The successful candidate will be an enthusiastic teacher and researcher. Τhey will contribute to an established Biblical Studies Department in Briercrest's engaging intellectual and spiritual environment where the liberal arts, alongside biblical studies, stand at the core of all undergraduate degree programs. Candidates should possess a Ph.D. (although exceptional ABDs may be considered) and demonstrate potential for excellence in teaching, research, and service to the church. Experience teaching Biblical Hebrew using the communicative approach will be an asset.

More details about the position are here. 

Introduction to Biblical Interpretation

I'm not big on personal mission statements--unless the quote from Robert Frost in my sidebar counts: 

"My object in living is to unite / My avocation and my vocation / As my two eyes make one in sight."   

But if I were forced to articulate what makes me tick, what gets me up in the morning, it would have something to do with helping students read the Bible carefully and profitably, and helping students experience why it matters. That's why I'm committed to teaching Greek and Hebrew as effectively as I can, and that's why I'm looking forward to teaching a one-week Introduction to Biblical Interpretation modular course at Briercrest Seminary at the end of August. The full syllabus is here, if anyone is interested. 

The course will be offered over Zoom, so you can take it from the comfort of your living room. All you'd need is an internet connection. No travel required.  

Reflections on Teaching Greek as a Living Language 2: The Prequel

I have been dreaming about a more effective way to teach the biblical languages since the late 1990’s when I watched classmates complete their seminary language requirements without acquiring a lasting ability to read the Bible in Greek or Hebrew. I already knew by experience how valuable it is to be able to read the New Testament in Greek, but I could see that the traditional approach to teaching the biblical languages was not serving the majority of students well.

Around this time I first encountered Randall Buth making what was then an unusual proposal: Why not draw on best practices in second language acquisition and teach the biblical languages by immersion, as modern languages are taught? I had grown up in Africa in a multilingual environment and had observed my missionary parents teaching English to speakers of other languages, so on one level the idea made a lot of sense. But I had my doubts about applying living methods to so-called “dead” languages. A few years later I was in Jerusalem studying modern Hebrew by immersion when I noticed a dramatic improvement in my ability to read biblical Hebrew. From that point, I was sold on the concept. An immersive method clearly produces deeper, longer-lasting results. The problem was I did not know Greek well enough to apply it.

In the summer of 2012, with several years of traditional grammar-translation Greek teaching under my belt, I participated in a Biblical Language Center Greek Fluency Workshop designed both to help Greek instructors develop proficiency in spoken Koine Greek and to demonstrate how to teach ancient Greek as a living language. During the workshop, I posted a sort of personal manifesto on my blog:

I am … persuaded that the languages are worth learning well, that Bible software “power tools” are no substitute, and that—in theory—it should be reasonable for pastors to acquire a reading knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, and maintain the languages while they are in ministry. I am also committed to doing whatever I can to create a better long-term success rate for my students. This means helping students learn deeper with greater retention, and helping them see the payoff and have fun in the process so that they are motivated to continue learning once required classes are done. I am convinced the church needs pastors in general—not just a select few pastor scholars—who read the Bible in its original languages. Perhaps one of the most important ways I can serve the church is to teach the biblical languages effectively, working to turn theory into reality.

That fall, in a first attempt to switch to an immersive approach, I went half-way, trying to merge traditional and living-language methods in my Introductory Greek course. I was pleased with the results of this preliminary experiment, but class scheduling demands, a sabbatical, and a trip to England, meant that a second chance to teach introductory Greek never materialized. I did sometimes wonder why—if teaching the languages was so important to me—I wasn’t doing more to develop my own competence in Greek and Hebrew. But in the years that followed I turned my attention to the conventional things an academic is supposed to do, and I began to fear that the effort I had put into developing any sort of active facility in the language would be wasted.

Meanwhile, back in the Greek-language classroom, my colleague, Wes Olmstead, made the switch to a living language approach to teaching ancient Greek. When Wes proposed the idea for an “Intensive Semester” of immersive Greek, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved—both to support the experience in any way I could and to learn Greek more deeply in the process.

I wrote up some initial reflections on the fall semester at the beginning of January, which you can read here. Then came the winter semester and the challenge of attempting to teach through the Greek text of 1 Corinthians in Greek. (Εἰ θέλεις μανθάνειν τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν γλῶσσαν, δίδαξον αὐτήν!) Now that the dust has settled, I hope to return to a sequel that gives a little more detail on what we did last fall, our influences and the resources we used. Stay tuned.

This is the second post in a 3-part series. Click on these links for Part 1 and Part 3.

Reflections on Teaching Ancient Greek as a Living Language

Last fall I had the privilege of helping lead Briercrest’s first Intensive Koiné Greek Semester. We were able to pack the equivalent of five conventional courses (and then some) into one extended 15-week semester, with classes running all morning, Monday to Friday, and a required tutorial each afternoon. Our goal was not simply to cover a lot of material, but to create the conditions for an immersive, active, and living learning environment where Ancient Greek could be taught in Ancient Greek, and students could learn Ancient Greek as they would any other modern language.

In traditional biblical language courses, the majority of class time is spent talking about Greek or Hebrew in English. Students labour over analysing word forms, memorizing vocabulary by rote, and producing their own English translations. This approach appeals only to a small percentage of analytical learners, and even at the best of times tends to result in a superficial understanding about how the language works, not a knowledge of the language itself. There is a reason why most students who study Greek or Hebrew do not succeed in maintaining a long-term reading knowledge of the language.

Thankfully, there is growing interest in another approach to teaching the biblical languages that draws on best practices in modern second-language pedagogy. We decided to adopt this approach and teach Ancient Greek in Greek out of a desire to make the language more accessible to anyone who wants to learn, and to help students internalize the language so that they will be better prepared to develop a life-long practice of reading the Bible in Greek. As far as I know, the combination of an intensive five-course semester of Greek with a living-language methodology is unique in North America.

Of course, there are things we will do differently next time, but the initial experiment was a success. Students who began the semester without even knowing the Greek alphabet spent the final three weeks working through the Greek text of the Gospel of Mark, and talking about it in Greek. On our last day of class, we read and discussed Mark’s account of Jesus’ death and resurrection (chapters 15-16). Then the room full of 30 students stood and recited the Lord’s prayer in unison. The following day, the students wrote their final exams, including essay questions, entirely in Greek. I call that a win.

Time will tell how many of our Greek guinea pigs maintain a long-term reading knowledge of the language, but there is an initial sign that the course achieved one major goal: to inspire students to continue studying Greek. Students who major in Biblical Studies at Briercrest are required to complete four language courses in either Greek or Hebrew. Our students have already completed five, and more than half the class are now registered for next semester’s entirely optional Koiné Greek VI course on the Greek text of 1 Corinthians.

This is the first in a 3-part series. Parts 2 and 3 are here:

Part 2: The Prequel 

Part 3: Endnotes

Faculty Job Openings at Briercrest College and Seminary

Briercrest College and Seminary is currently looking to fill faculty positions in Old Testament, Theology, Philosophy, Psychology, Business Administration, and Leadership and Management.

More information is available on the Briercrest website here.

Announcing the 2018 Israel Study Tour

I am happy to announce that Briercrest College and Seminary is planning a study tour to Israel in the spring of 2018. The 13-day trip will be hosted by my colleague, Dr. Wes Olmstead, and led in Israel by Yoni Gerrish, the director of JCF Biblical Study Tours. We know from past experience on our 2009 and 2011 study tours that Yoni is an outstanding guide.


The tour will begin in the south of Israel with stops in Beersheba and Eilat on the Red Sea, as well as several hikes, including one through the Zin Canyon pictured on your left. The group will then progress north along the Dead Sea, and then across to the Mediterranean Sea, before settling in for several nights at a Kibbutz Hotel on the Sea of Galilee, as a base for day trips around the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. (For those who like swimming, this means you will have the chance to swim in the Red Sea, Dead Sea, Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee.) After touring Israel from south to north, the final four days will be based out of Jerusalem.

For more information, including a more detailed itinerary, see the tour website: http://briercrest.ca/israeltour/.

If you are in the Caronport area, please plan to attend our information meeting this Wednesday, April 5, at 6:30 p.m. in Room 144.

The trip will be a fantastic experience, and I was very much looking forward to going along. Something else has come up for our family, however, about which I may say more in due course. (Update: More here)

Faculty Job Openings at Briercrest College and Seminary

Briercrest College and Seminary is looking to fill faculty positions in Old Testament, Music/Worship Arts, TESOL/Modern Languages, and Psychology.

The Old Testament position was announced on January 29 and closes on March 1, so applicants will need to act quickly. Here is the job description:

Briercrest College and Seminary invites applications for a full-time faculty position (rank open, commensurate with qualifications) in Old Testament and Hebrew, beginning 15 August 2016 with primary appointment in Briercrest Seminary. The successful candidate’s teaching will support ministerial and academic degrees in the seminary along with occasional undergraduate teaching. Candidates should demonstrate a commitment to the Gospel, possess a PhD (or equivalent), and show potential for excellence in teaching, in service to the Church, and in research supporting ministerial education. Prior ministry and teaching experience will be highly regarded.

More information is available on the Briercrest website here.

And here are links to the other faculty position profiles--no less important, but probably of less interest to my readers:

Music
Worship Arts
TESOL/Modern Languages
Psychology

History 312: Ideas and Society in Early Modern Europe

Erasmus and Thomas More Visit the Children of King Henry VII at Greenwich, 1499 by F.C. Cowper; source

If you are looking to fill a history elective at Briercrest College this fall, may I recommend HIS312: Ideas and Society in Early Modern Europe? Like the history course I recommended last year--which turned out very well, by the way--I can't help but be a tiny bit biased, but I have read the syllabus and talked a lot with the professor about things Early Modern over the past several months, and I think it will be a great course. Curent Briercrest students can check out the syllabus on Briercrest Live; everyone else can find it here (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

For bonus marks, identify Erasmus and Thomas More in the painting, and explain the significance of the colours.

Fall Course Line-up

Another major project this summer is to prepare for next semester's classes. This fall I will be teaching Gospels (our required introductory New Testament course in the college); Romans (offered jointly as both a college and seminary modular course); and third-semester Koine Greek (also cross-listed between the college and seminary).

Current Briercrest students can check out the Gospels and Romans syllabi on Briercrest Live; everyone else can find them here (along with a collection of my other past syllabi), or click on these links:

• BLST103 Gospels (15-01)
• BLST306 Romans (college version); BLST825 Romans (seminary version)
• The syllabus for Greek Syntax (also cross-listed in the college and seminary) is still in progress. (I know we'll be working through Mark 1-4 and talking about Greek syntax, but I am planning to try something a little different this time around, and that requires working through my course notes before I outline the class.)

If you are at all interested in a Romans "study vacation," I would be delighted to have you join the class in Caronport during the week of October 26-30. If Greek is your thing, Greek Syntax is also potentially open to distance students by live Skype-cast.

Summer also includes recess. Today's activity involved climbing freshly bailed hay in the field behind our house.

History 311: Medieval Europe

The Baptism of Clovis

History 311: Medieval Europe 

If you are looking to fill a history elective at Briercrest College this fall, may I recommend HIS311: Medieval Europe? Although I can't help but be a tiny bit biased, I have read the syllabus and talked a lot with the professor about things medieval over the past few months, and I think it will be a great course. You can view the syllabus online here.

Learn Biblical Hebrew in a live online classroom

If you want to learn Biblical Hebrew but don't live near a school that offers it, you now have the option of taking Introductory Hebrew for credit while attending weekly classes in the comfort of your home (or dorm room):

I am happy to report that Charles Grebe will be teaching Introductory Hebrew I and II at Briercrest College and Seminary this year, in a live on-line virtual classroom. Charles is an excellent and well-qualified Hebrew teacher: He taught Hebrew at Briercrest while serving as our director of Distance Learning in class and on-line, he is the creator of the outstanding animatedhebrew.com website, and he runs a weekly on-line Hebrew reading group in the virtual classroom he created. Since Charles now lives in Quebec, both on-campus and distance students will meet for classes on-line this year, with each student accessing the course via computer (and Skype) independently during class time. (The plan is for on-campus students also to attend a weekly tutorial, which will provide face-to-face interaction with each other and a chance to interact in-person with a tutorial leader.)

If you are interested, check out the college or seminary syllabi, and email for more details. I highly recommend it!

Turkey & Greece 2013 Study Tour: A Preview

Five years ago my wife and I took a vacation in Turkey as a final fling before Shoshana came along. We traveled with our good friends D&D, who graciously invited us to join them, made all the travel arrangements in Turkey, and let me help set the itinerary. The only drawback was that we were limited to public transport, which meant a lot more time en route and a lot less time actually viewing Turkey's wonderful historical heritage.

Next year's Following Paul in Turkey and Greece study tour will be different: Thanks to our air-conditioned coach, we'll see way more sites in both Turkey and Greece, and our professional guides and the excellent teaching of Mark Wilson will help us make sense of what we see.

For those who interested in some of what we will see on next year's study tour, the links below will take you to posts (with pictures) from the Turkey Travelogue I compiled back in 2007:

Istanbul
Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia
More Hagia Sophia
The Istanbul Archaeological Museum, etc., etc., etc.
Topkapi Palace


Hierapolis
Pamukkale
Hierapolis Highlights

Aphrodisias
Finding Our Way in Aphrodisias
Public Life in Aphrodisias

Ephesus
Classical Views of Ephesus
St. Paul's Ephesus
The Road Less Traveled in Ephesus
The Harbour of Ephesus
The Great Artemis of the Ephesians
Selçuk Archaeological Museum
St. John's Basilica

Priene & Didyma
Priene, my "favorite Turkish ruins experience"
The Temple of Apollo at Didyma

Pergamum
Bergama/Pergamum
Pergamum's Acropolis
Locating "Satan's Throne"
Why are there trees on ancient cultic sites?

Click here for more information about the tour.

Briercrest 2013 Study Tour: Biblical Sites in Turkey and Greece

Update: The official website is now live: http://www.briercrest.ca/studytour/

I am delighted to announce that Briercrest College and Seminary is organizing a 17-day study tour of Turkey and Greece in 2013. The tour will focus on Greco-Roman sites related to the journeys of Paul and the churches of Revelation. With stops in Troy, Athens, Corinth and Delphi, the trip will also be of interest to students of Classical Greece. I can say from experience that Turkey is amazing. I can't wait to go back and see Greece as well!

The trip will be hosted by me and my colleague, Dr. Kevin Daugherty, and will feature six days of teaching by Dr. Mark Wilson, director of the Seven Churches Network, and author of Biblical Turkey: A Guide to Jewish and Christian Sites of Asia Minor (2010). Accommodation, travel, and guiding in Turkey and Greece will be organized by Tutku Tours. International airfare and travel insurance will be arranged by Menno Travel.

Our current itinerary is as follows:

• April 28, Sunday Departure Regina, SK  
• April 29, Monday Arrive Istanbul Meet our Tutku Tour guide and transfer to our hotel in Istanbul. The rest of the day is free. Overnight in Istanbul. 

• April 30, Tuesday Istanbul On our first full day in Turkey we will sample some of the stunning sites in Istanbul, including the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, the Archaeological Museum, the Underground Cistern and the Grand Bazaar. Overnight in Istanbul.
•  May 1, Wednesday Morning Flight to Antalya; Perga – Attalia After our arrival in Antalya, we will visit the Greco-Roman city of Perga (Acts 13:13-14; 14:25) and the Antalya Museum before taking a walking tour of Attalia that concludes at the Asia Minor Research Center. Overnight in Antalya. 

• May 2, Thursday Pisidian Antioch – Colossae This morning we will drive to Yalvaç to visit Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:14) and Yalvaç Museum. We will then drive west past ancient Apollonia and Apamea, with a brief stop at the unexcavated site of Colossae. Overnight in Pamukkale. 
•  May 3, Friday Hierapolis – Laodicea – Aphrodisias – Kusadasi Today we will visit the biblical cities of Hierapolis (Col 4:13) and Laodicea, and stop in Aphrodisias. Overnight Kuşadasi. 
• May 4, Saturday Ephesus – Kuşadasi We will spend the day touring the ancient site of Ephesus, including terrace houses and the temple of Artemis, as well as St. John’s Basilica and the museum in Selçuk. Overnight Kuşadasi. 
• May 5, Sunday Miletus – Didyma – Priene – Izmir Today we will visit Miletus (Acts 20:15, 17), the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, and the Hellenistic city of Priene. Overnight Izmir
• May 6, Monday Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Thyatira – Bergama Today we will concentrate on the cities mentioned in Revelation 2-3, with visits to Smyrna, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Thyatira. Overnight Bergama. 
• May 7, Tuesday Pergamum – Assos We will spend most of the day visiting the extensive cite of Pergamum (Rev 2:12-17), including the acropolis, the Red Basilica, and the Asclepium. We will then drive past the port city of Adramyttium mentioned in Acts 27:2. Overnight Assos. 

• May 8, Wednesday Assos – Troas – Troy - Transfer to Greece After an early breakfast, we will tour the site of Assos (Acts 20:13-14), and then travel to Greece with stops along the way in Troas and Troy. Overnight Kavala. 
• May 9, Friday. Neapolis – Philippi – Amphipolis - We will begin our day in Neapolis and then follow the route of Paul’s second missionary journey with visits to Neapolis, Philippi and Amphipolis, and a final drive to Thessalonica. Overnight Thessaloniki. 
• May 10, Saturday Thessalonica – Berea – Vergina After visiting ancient Thessalonica, we will drive to Berea (Acts 17), and then visit the royal tombs of Macedonia at Vergina. Overnight Delphi. 
• May 11, Sunday Delphi We will spend the day at the beautiful ancient Greek city of Delphi. Overnight Corinth. 
• May 12, Monday Corinth – Cenchrae We will spend the day in the famous city of Corinth and the port of Cenchrae. Overnight Athens. 
• May 13, Tuesday Athens the acropolis and agora; Mars hill. On our final day, we will visit the acropolis of Athens, the extensive agora, and Mars hill. We will also tour the Parthenon museum. Overnight Athens. 
• May 14, Wednesday Transfer to Athens Airport – Fly back to Regina, SK – End. 
• (See my Turkey Travelogue for photos and more information on Istanbul, Hierapolis, Aphrodisias, Ephesus, Didyma, Priene, and Pergamum.) 

The tour is open to all Briercrest College and Seminary students in good standing as well as friends and alumni of Briercrest. So mark your calendar for April 28 - May 14, 2013, and stay tuned for more details!

Briercrest Writes

Whatever I might say in general about the cancerous state of contermporary academic publishing, I am genuinely enthusiastic about the publications of my colleagues at Briercrest College and Seminary . . . and 2010 was a particularly good year for Briercrest authors:

My NT colleague, Marty Culy, saw the publication of his Ph.D. dissertation:

Culy, Martin M. Echoes of Friendship in the Gospel of John. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2010.

...as well as a handbook on Luke, co-authored with Mikeal Parsons and Josh Stigall:

Culy, Martin M., Mikeal C. Parsons, and Joshua J. Stigall. Luke: A Handbook on the Greek Text. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2010.

Eric Ortlund also published his dissertation, a steal of a deal at $118.76:

Ortlund, Eric. Theophany and Chaoskampf: The Interpretation of Theophanic Imagery in the Baal Epic, Isaiah, and the Twelve. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010.

Charles Hackney's Martial Virtues: Lessons in Wisdom, Courage, and Compassion from the World's Greatest Warriors (Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 2010) has already been published in Italian and is about to come out in French translation.

And from Blayne Banting we had Take Up and Preach (Xulon Press, 2010).

Finally, my colleague Susan Wendel's published dissertation, Scriptural Interpretation and Community Self-Definition in Luke-Acts and the Writings of Justin Martyr (NovT Supp. 139; Leiden: Brill, 2011) is scheduled to appear in February. 


Well done, one and all!