The Biblical Languages Podcast (brought to you by Biblingo) cover image

The Biblical Languages Podcast (brought to you by Biblingo)

How to read deeply in Greek and Hebrew

Jul 26, 2024
In this discussion, Kevin, a neuroscience expert, delves into the intricacies of reading in Greek and Hebrew. He highlights the neurological foundations that impact language acquisition, emphasizing the importance of reading fluency for better comprehension of scripture. Kevin examines cognitive differences between novice and expert readers, urging a deeper engagement with biblical texts over traditional exegesis. He also critiques Bible translations and shares innovative strategies to enhance fluency, including a new mobile app aimed at improving language skills.
01:00:35

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Emphasizing reading fluency is critical for learning Greek and Hebrew, as inadequate skills hinder comprehension in biblical studies.
  • Deep reading integrates complex cognitive processes, balancing lower-level decoding with higher-level meaning-making for greater text understanding.

Deep dives

The Challenges of Reading Biblical Languages

Many individuals struggle to effectively learn Greek and Hebrew, with statistics showing that only 10% of seminary students use Greek in their ministries, and a mere 1% do the same for Hebrew. This failure often stems from an inadequate focus on reading fluency, leading learners to read in a laborious, disconnected manner where comprehension becomes extremely difficult. It is highlighted that strong reading fluency is crucial for understanding a text, as poor reading skills in a first language can parallel these struggles in biblical languages. By emphasizing the need for better reading fluency instruction, the aim is to improve learners’ comprehension of biblical texts.

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