THEO 6930: Advanced Patristic Greek (Saint Louis University)
Goal This course is designed to offer students with an intermediate knowledge of Greek the opportunity to increase their fluency in Greek reading and to explore the diversity of Greek Christian literature in late antiquity. The aim is to review grammatical paradigms, to practice extended reading in Greek, to introduce students to a variety of Greek texts beyond the New Testament, and to continue to work with more advanced grammatical and syntactical concepts.
Objectives The specific objectives of the course involve the review of grammar, practice composing Greek sentences, and the reading of as much patristic Greek as our pace will allow. Students will focus on a wide selection of Greek texts in a patristic Greek “reader,” and they will be graduated to longer stretches of Greek without extensive glossing toward the end of the course. Students should emerge from this course with more confidence in their ability to translate an unadorned page of Greek prose from the patristic period.
Texts Whitacre, Rodney. A Patristic Greek Reader. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2007.* Dickey, Eleanor. An Introduction to the Composition and Analysis of Greek Prose. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
*Other Greek readings will be provided by the instructor, as needed.
Selected Qualitative Feedback
Kellen was a great instructor. I would take a course from him again.
The course was well thought out and I enjoyed it. Kellen was always available if I had questions, and the workload was reasonable.
Overall, the course was very helpful. I definitely appreciated the gradual progression of difficulty level in the texts we read, and thought that the Reader was a very appropriate way to accomplish that.
Dr. Plaxco was VERY helpful in giving feedback on assignments, both in email/comments on assignments that were handed back, and by bringing up commonly asked questions in class.
Kellen did a great job of connecting with the students and being available to provide assistance and answer questions. He not only helped us work through translations; he also challenged us to pay attention to the text and made us aware of valuable resources for Greek grammar and translation.