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Summer Greek and Hebrew language courses, long a staple at Princeton Seminary and a favorite among students, are now more flexible and accessible than ever. Offered from June 26 to August 18 in both a hybrid and fully online format, these courses are open to degree students and non-degree learners who want to study the Bible in its original languages, earn six graduate credits, and get a taste of the Princeton Seminary experience.
The summer language courses cover the equivalent of an entire year of New Testament Greek and Biblical Hebrew in just eight weeks of intensive study. Dr. Heath Dewrell, lecturer in Biblical Hebrew, will teach the eight-week Hebrew course, and Dr. Eric Barreto, Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser, Associate Professor of New Testament, teaches the eight-week Greek course.
“This is an intense course,” says Barreto. “For all eight weeks, it’s like a full-time job.”
For example, Barreto’s course follows “A Primer of Biblical Greek” by N.Clayton Croy, and covers four lessons each week (sometimes with an exam on the fifth day). He advises a daily seven-hour schedule of study, practice, memorization, reading, and review with fellow students in a 90-minute daily meet-up.
Students can do most of the work on their own schedule, watching the video lecture and reading the textbook when they like.
Attending the 90-minute in-person sessions is where the learning is applied.
“It’s a great place to get some practice, reading the text out loud, identifying different types of verbs and nouns. It’s a lab of sorts,” Barreto says.
“I hope they get that this sense of awe, amazement and maybe even confusion about these texts, because they’re also beautifully strange. But on the other side of that, I hope they hear God’s voice much more sharply and clearly, or maybe in a different tone than they’ve heard God’s voice before.”
Students don’t have to be on the ordination track – or even enrolled in the seminary. Some students are those with a desire to know more, understand more about the Bible, and read it in the ancient languages.
Valrie Barrett, a retired chemistry teacher and an elder in her Presbyterian Church leads a women’s Bible study.
“Last summer, I decided to take the Introduction to New Testament Greek course … because I felt that understanding basic Greek grammar and vocabulary and syntax would help in my own understanding, and that I would be better equipped to help lead our Bible study and enhance the understanding of others in the group as well. I was not disappointed.”
She called the course rigorous and even grueling at times, but she found the experience to be exhilarating.
“I was thrilled each time I was able to translate and interpret the sentences and texts. I looked forward to every lesson. I even looked forward to the weekly quizzes and the exams,” she said.
She says even though the course is over, she still revisits her coursework to refresh and cement her understanding.
It is a gift to be able to read Scripture in Greek and Hebrew, Barreto says.
“The translations we have in English are all great. They are faithful accounts of what those texts say. But there is something about being able to read it, whether in Greek or Hebrew. You hear it a little bit differently. … One of the things I tell my students is that Greek isn’t magic. It will not solve all these big questions that we have. I like to think of Greek as another tool that allows us not to reach definitive answers but to ask different kinds of questions.”
Barreto understands the power of language. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he learned Spanish as his first language. When he entered kindergarten at an American military school, “I knew about three words of English.” He recalls teachers being generous and kind, easing his path toward learning English.
“What I remember was always loving and caring about school and words and the power of reading,” he says. It’s his hope that this course will teach students that the Bible is a textbook “of a different time altogether.”
