Curious about apparent inconsistency.

[Alistair]

In the library we have:

 

Greek Studies

Greek Lexicons

Semitic Studies

Hebrew Lexicons

 

 

Shouldn't Greek Studies better be Hellenic Studies in order to match Semitic Studies?

 

 

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Interesting point .... I don't mind but I agree it would be seem more consistent. Although one could argue the other way and say Semitic Studies here is the odd one out and ought to be Hebrew Studies. Depends a bit also on what ends up in the bucket. If it were hierarchical I could imagine Hebrew Studies as a subcategory of Semitic Studies.

 

In the end I would argue the title should represent the content. Do broader Hellenic items end up under Greek Studies ?

 

Thx

D

[SimpleTheist]

I believe it is labeled Greek and not Hellenic, because the Greek study in theology assumes Koine Greek from the LXX through the New Testament and beyond to the Church Fathers. In essence I think it is probably the study of the Church fathers that makes Hellenic not an accurate description. I.e. once you leave the Roman world and enter into the Christian culture of the latter Greek speaking Church fathers, Hellenic would not be entirely accurate. 

 

I fully understand one could argue with my point, but I think seminaries use the term Greek studies themselves. So it may just be an influence in how the terms are actually used academically. In that case, neither would be the odd one out, because they reflect their academic usage. 

Edited September 5, 2016 by SimpleTheist

[Alistair]

I thought it might be language-based, the NT being in Greek and the OT being in a couple of semitic languages (not allowing for transliterated or loan-words from other languages such as Latin, Egyptian, etc).

 

I didn't think of the seminary/academic usage, that makes a lot of sense.

 

And LXX Greek properly belongs in which category?

[SimpleTheist]

I thought it might be language-based, the NT being in Greek and the OT being in a couple of semitic languages (not allowing for transliterated or loan-words from other languages such as Latin, Egyptian, etc).

 

I didn't think of the seminary/academic usage, that makes a lot of sense.

 

And LXX Greek properly belongs in which category?

You might actually be on the right path by noting that the Old Testament is in more languages than in Hebrew and so Semetic Studies may be for that reason. 

 

More specifically, from my understanding Hellenic would apply to Greeks (though could be used synonym for the Greek language). While the LXX is a product of Jewish origin and influence on Greek, rather than being a part of Hellenic culture specifically. So it would only be proper to say Hellenic if we were talking about the Greek people and their language and perhaps less proper to refer to a Jewish work, though in Greek, as Hellenic because Greek culture had little to no influence on the LXX itself. 

 

So I am making a distinction here that it isn't proper to refer to any and everything Greek as Hellenic, primarily those works that while being in Greek are largely unrelated to the culture. I.e. you wouldn't gain much, if anything, from studying Hellenic culture in your interpretation and discussion of the LXX. At a minimal, there might be some elements of how words were used that might have a barring on the Jewish usage, but it is entirely possible that the Jews ignored the larger Hellenic ideas and really didn't have those in mind. 

 

So Hellenic studies would imply the study of Greek culture and their language. Judaism and Christianity are not properly part of Hellenic culture and so while they have works in Greek, they don't necessarily belong to the study of Hellenic culture.

 

Whereas the Jews/Israelites are actually part of semetic culture and studying closely related groups does contribute to the knowledge of the Old Testament and Hebrew. 

 

I haven't really given this much thought until now, so take my thoughts with a bit of a grain of salt. The actual reason is probably the guy doing the Greek stuff labeled it Greek Studies, the guy doing the Hebrew stuff labeled it Semetic Studies and no one noticed it until now. lol

Edited September 6, 2016 by SimpleTheist