Foreign Languages for Theology Sources

[blackhole]

Besides German, which languages offer good Christian readings?

 

[Paidiske]

Honestly, it depends what your field of interest is, and where scholarship in that field has flourished. German is almost indispensable for really serious Biblical work, I've found French useful in systematics (some stuff just doesn't get published in English, or the translations are very bad). If you're interested in older works, Latin and/or Greek might be better.

What particular field where you keen to pursue?

 

[blackhole]

Honestly, it depends what your field of interest is, and where scholarship in that field has flourished. German is almost indispensable for really serious Biblical work, I've found French useful in systematics (some stuff just doesn't get published in English, or the translations are very bad). If you're interested in older works, Latin and/or Greek might be better.

What particular field where you keen to pursue?

Thanks for that! I don't have a nameable goal, so I'll explain it instead.

I love to debunk popular errors, whether they're based in pop-spirituality, irrationality, ignorance, or simply a misreading of a text -- especially when that misreading is due to the way a text is translated.

And thus, knowing the way other people/cultures behave or interpret ideas--which we never even think to question--is high on my list.

 

[Peter J Barban]

Jean Calvin was a French theologian, so French would be good.
Don't forget the older languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin

 

[Arcangl86]

There is also a lot of really interesting stuff in Spanish, mostly though not exclusively liberation theology.

 

[Paidiske]

Thanks for that! I don't have a nameable goal, so I'll explain it instead.

I love to debunk popular errors, whether they're based in pop-spirituality, irrationality, ignorance, or simply a misreading of a text -- especially when that misreading is due to the way a text is translated.

And thus, knowing the way other people/cultures behave or interpret ideas--which we never even think to question--is high on my list.

In that case, it almost doesn't matter which language you choose. But if you want to look at Biblical texts and misreadings of them, then I'd say go for Hebrew or Greek, and then you'll get the different worldview/mindset as well as useful knowledge of the original Scriptures.

 

[Arcangl86]

Jean Calvin was a French theologian, so French would be good.
Don't forget the older languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin

I'm pretty sure Calvin wrote in Latin, not French.

 

[Peter J Barban]

I'm pretty sure Calvin wrote in Latin, not French.

https://www.amazon.com/Institutes-Christian-Religion-English-Version/dp/B002A7OAAM
English translation of the 1541 French edition is available.

From Logos.com
Beginning with the second edition of his work published in 1541, Calvin translated each new version into French, simultaneously adapting the text to suit lay audiences, shaping it subtly but clearly to teach, exhort, and encourage them. Besides reflecting a more pastoral bent on Calvin’s part, this 1541 Institutes is also notable as one of the founding documents of the modern French language. Elsie Anne McKee’s masterful translation of the 1541 French Edition—the first-ever English version—offers full access to the brilliant mind of John Calvin as he considered what common Christian people should all know and practice.

 

[Not David]

Russian and Arabic.

 

[blackhole]

Russian and Arabic.

Why do you recommend those two?

 

[Not David]

Why do you recommend those two?

Because those are the ones no one mentioned, and several Christian saints wrote in that language.

 

[Pope66]

Ancient Greek and Ancient Hebrew.

 

[Peter J Barban]

One of my seminary classmates loved ancient languages. She studied Aramaic, Ugaritic and many some others I have forgotten.