Biblical Language Pedagogy in Crisis (Part 2 of 3)

March 25, 2020 // David R. Miller, Ed.D.

I was first introduced to the process of learning biblical languages in 2005/2006, and I enjoyed it. It was stimulating, enriching, and spiritually beneficial. But it was also strenuous, time-consuming, and expensive. When I was finished, I found myself struggling to retain proficiency in biblical languages and I was discouraged by how quickly I “lost” my language skills.

When I finished my ThM, which included a lot of additional Greek, I was not certain where to go with my studies. I had applied for a Ph.D. program in New Testament Studies, but I questioned how much I would truly benefit from a program of that nature. I knew it would improve my level of knowledge and provide me with a more professionally desirable degree, but I was concerned that it would benefit my head to the detriment of my heart. I wanted to research and later write something that would directly benefit the body of Christ rather than academia alone. I was not aiming to be academic; I was aiming to be fruitful.

After much prayer and advisement from trusted sources (God, wife, professors, pastors, etc.), I switched my degree to focus on education rather than philosophy.

I was approved to study under Dr. David Alan Black, a renowned New Testament and Greek professor. We discussed many directions for my dissertation and landed on doing an assessment and analysis of the primary method being used today for teaching biblical languages: the Grammar-Translation Method (GTM). GTM was something that I had experience using but knew little about academically. Fortunately, I knew many professors and students who had more knowledge than I did, and I planned on tapping into their expertise.

When I started digging into language textbooks and literature I realized that GTM is very common. Actually, it WAS very common. GTM has roots that go back hundreds of years and it was even used by the US public school system for foreign language learning until World War I. The problem is that almost no one uses it today. In fact, the only uses I could find for it today were for dead languages (i.e., Hebrew, Latin, Greek, etc.) and primarily in religious higher education institutions.

The big question in my mind became clear:

Is this teaching method (pedagogy) being used in such a specialized field, by this limited cohort because it is especially useful there and a replacement has not been found?

Or is it still being used there out of convenience and a replacement has not been sought?

I understand that that may sound a bit strict, and there may be other options, but for the sake of space here, these quickly became the two lowest common denominators. This was significant because biblical languages are unique from other dead languages in the fact that most dead languages are just old and out of use. Whereas, although biblical languages are out of modern use, they hold a modern (and eternal) significance to millions of people today. These languages are not kept relevant for simple posterity’s sake, no they are vital to the life of the church and the future of the Judeo-Christian faith. How they are taught, learned, and utilized needs to be of utmost importance.

With these facts in mind, I delved into hundreds of books, articles, and interviews about how today’s religious schools teach biblical languages. I already knew why biblical languages were studied (motivation), but I wanted to know how it was done (strategy) and why it was done that way (method).

I had several avenues that I could have approached: student surveys, institutional analysis, literary discrimination, or even pedagogical comparison. Although each of these methods would have been interesting, I decided to survey dozens of prominent professors and biblical language professionals to understand their perspective on GTM and the current state of biblical language teaching/learning. This was a form of an Expert Panel Survey instrument. I wanted to get to the root of GTM and I figured I should start with the people who wrote the books and taught the classes.

My research consisted of 32 professors and professionals in the field of New Testament Greek. The questions were not leading in any way and they were encouraged to write as much as they wanted for any of their answers. Each person was promised anonymity if they desired it and several requested that option. The results of the research were both predictable and surprising at the same time. Many respondents were reserved in their answers and others were brutally honest.

In the end, many of them candidly told me that they have been waiting for someone to expose GTM and its weaknesses in today's educational landscape. Some have been pushing for institutional change for years and had no research to stand on, while others had witnessed the bleeding, but could not find the wound. Although my personal experience was foremost in my mind, I wanted to see if the experts could shed any unexpected light on the subject.

They did not disappoint.

(Read Part Three here.)

David R. Miller, Ed.D. has committed most of his education and career to spiritual growth and personal development in the church and in higher education. He has earned a B.A. from Moody Bible Institute, an M.A./M.Div. from Columbia International University, and a Th.M. and Ed.D. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. His goal is to encourage Christians to live passionately for Christ and strive to know Him better each day. David lives with his wife, Alayna, and their two children in North Carolina.

His doctoral work focused on the educational process of language-learning. Learn more in his book "Greek Pedagogy in Crisis" (available on Amazon).