Dr. Jonathan More, Vice-Principal and Academic Dean at George Whitefield College, Cape Town, South Africa, focuses his research on the intersection between the intellectual world of the New Testament and its Graeco-Roman context. Today’s topic: Translation sometimes poses difficult decisions when there is no single word available to the translator in the receptor language. The NIV translates Phil 4:11 as, “. . . I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” The word “content” (αὐτάρκης) has a sense that is hard to represent with a single English word.
Dr. Steven Runge is Professor of Biblical Languages at Grace School of Theology in Houston and Senior Research Associate at the John W. Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies at Trinity Western University. Among other things, he has authored, Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis, and he is General Editor of the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament. In this episode he helps us notice the linguistic clues in Phil. 2:1-11 leading us to Paul’s main concern: that we should have the mindset that was operative in Christ’s self-giving, self-lowering, obedient service.
“Exegetically Speaking” is a weekly podcast of the friends and faculty of Wheaton College, IL and The Lanier Theological Library. Hosted by Dr. David Capes, it features language experts who discuss the importance of learning the biblical languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—and show how reading the Bible in the original languages “pays off.” Each podcast lasts between seven and eleven minutes and covers a different topic for those who want to read the Bible for all it is worth.
Matthew Norton is an alum of Wheaton College’s Classical Languages major and its MA in Biblical Exegesis. He is presently enrolled in the School of Medicine at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport. His journey with the classical languages took him from high school through college until he determined that he would serve through a career in medicine. He remains a student of the languages, and in this episode he unpacks a commonly cited line of Paul: I can do (endure) all things through Christ who strengthens me.
“Exegetically Speaking” is a weekly podcast of the friends and faculty of Wheaton College, IL and The Lanier Theological Library. Hosted by Dr. David Capes, it features language experts who discuss the importance of learning the biblical languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—and show how reading the Bible in the original languages “pays off.” Each podcast lasts between seven and eleven minutes and covers a different topic for those who want to read the Bible for all it is worth.
Dr. Lynn Cohick, provost/dean and Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, has authored several books, including commentaries on Philippians and Ephesians as well as Christian Women in the Patristic World, with Amy Brown Hughes (Wheaton PhD ’13; MA ‘08). In this podcast she talks about how studying a text in its original language goes beyond words to the entire act of communication between author and audience. Phil. 2:5-8 provides a case study, as well as challenges for belief and life.
“Exegetically Speaking” is a weekly podcast of the friends and faculty of Wheaton College, IL and The Lanier Theological Library. Hosted by Dr. David Capes, it features language experts who discuss the importance of learning the biblical languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—and show how reading the Bible in the original languages “pays off.” Each podcast lasts between seven and eleven minutes and covers a different topic for those who want to read the Bible for all it is worth.
Dr. Nijay Gupta, Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary, has authored several books and articles, including his recent, Paul and the Language of Faith(Eerdmans, 2020). Recently, we had the chance to connect on Exegetically Speaking to discuss the “poetic” language of one of the New Testament’s most important passages about Christ. Nijay questions whether we’re dealing here with poetry or something else. He prefers to call it an Ode to Christ. As I recall, Gordon Fee referred to it as exalted prose. At any rate, Dr. Gupta does a great job helping us work through part of this passage, one of the most famous in the New Testament.
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“Exegetically Speaking” is a weekly podcast of the friends and faculty of Wheaton College, IL and The Lanier Theological Library. Hosted by Dr. David Capes, it features language experts who discuss the importance of learning the biblical languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—and show how reading the Bible in the original languages “pays off.” Each podcast lasts between seven and eleven minutes and covers a different topic for those who want to read the Bible for all it is worth.
A Word in Edgewise 
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