Later Greek Prose (AP/GK 3080 / 4080 – Harland portion)

General information: Philip Harland (pharland – at – yorku – dot – ca)

Meetings (Mondays 11: 30-2:30) or office hours link: https://yorku.zoom.us/s/98246308267

Week 1 (Jan 10): First Thessalonians – Paul’s first letter to the Jesus adherents at Thessalonica in Macedonia

Readings: First Thessalonians, chapters 1-4 (link to SBL critical edition); Sequential Greek-English lexicon (link to password protected pdf)

Note: The SBL critical edition of the entire New Testament is available online for free (link)

NOTE: For each week, do a thorough preparation by working through the Greek of the text in question before attending the zoom session in which we will take turns translating and expounding the text.

Week 2 (Jan 17): First Corinthians

Readings: First Corinthians, chapters 1-4 (link to SBL critical edition); Sequential Greek-English lexicon (link to password protected pdf)

Week 3 (Jan 24): First Corinthians (continued)

Readings: First Corinthians, chapters 5-9 (link)

Week 4 ( Jan 31): First Corinthians (continued)

Readings: First Corinthians, chapters 10-15 (link)

Written assignment for Harland segment (due Friday February 4):

Step one: Thoroughly study the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 6:1-11.  Carefully read the two assigned scholarly articles (listed below), paying special attention to their use of Greek.

Step two: Write a 6-page (double-spaced) essay in which you explain (with special attention to philological issues) what was likely happening at Corinth in terms of the social and cultural contexts that underly the issue in this passage.  Be sure to clearly state your argument in which you take sides in the scholarly debates and to engage with each scholar’s arguments with regard to linguistic matters.  Pay special attention to the ways in which the Greek is being engaged or employed in the scholars’ arguments.

  • Alan C. Mitchell, “Rich and Poor in the Courts of Corinth: Litigiousness and Status in 1 Corinthians 6.1-11,” New Testament Studies 39 (1993): 562-86 (link).
  • Bruce W. Winter, “Civil Law and Christian Litigiousness (1 Cor 6:1-8),” in After Paul Left Corinth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 58-75 (link).