Subject
Bible. New Testament. Greek.
Greek language, Hellenistic (300 B.C.-600 A.D.)
Koinē (Greek language)
Religious literature, Greek (Hellenistic)
Description
This artifact is an audio recording of Christopher Proctor demonstrating the sound of the Greek language as it was used during the Hellenistic Period. This late form of Ancient Greek is known as Koine, or, Common Greek, and was the language in which the Christian New Testament was written in the first-century CE. The demonstration includes the first five lines of the first chapter of the Gospel of John. While studying in Greece in 2007, one of the main lessons learned was that translation often betray original meaning, and only when works are read in their original languages can a truer understanding develop. In this case, the first five lines of John could actually contradict the Christian belief in the Trinity.