# The Patrologist
> Ancient Greek as a Living Language
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About](https://thepatrologist.com/about-2.md) - Welcome to The Patrologist. That’s me, the Patrologist. Otherwise known as Dr. Seumas Macdonald. What’s a Patrologist? Someone who studies patrology, or patristics, that is the study of early Christian writers and theologians between the 1st and around the 7th century. I adopted this name because t…
- [About this site](https://thepatrologist.com/about.md) - Welcome to The Patrologist. That’s me, the Patrologist. Otherwise known as Dr. Seumas Macdonald. What’s a Patrologist? Someone who studies patrology, or patristics, that is the study of early Christian writers and theologians between the 1st and around the 7th century. I adopted this name because t…
- [Courses](https://thepatrologist.com/courses.md) - Currently open for Enrolment (starting October) Below are my current offerings, beginning in the first week of October (4th-10th). Click through to individual courses for more detailed information. Please note carefully the time and the time zone courses are offered in (and adjust for your location…
- [Galilaiathen](https://thepatrologist.com/galilaiathen.md) - A New Testament Supplementary reader Learn to read NT Greek with a graded reader. Students who train on a classical Greek textbook are often not quite familiar with the vocabulary and idiom of the New Testament. At the same time, most students of 'Biblical' Greek lack exposure to connected narrativ…
- [Greek 102 Athenaze (2604)](https://thepatrologist.com/greek-102-athenaze-2604.md) - A 10-week live online course for learning Ancient Greek through communicative methods October 8 - December 10, 2026 Thursdays 6:00am-7:30am Sydney Australia time 5 places available $360 USD Outcomes In this course you will learn to read and speak Ancient Greek, building upon part two of the textboo…
- [Greek 103 Athenaze (2604)](https://thepatrologist.com/greek-103-athenaze-2604.md) - A 10-week live online course for learning Ancient Greek through communicative methods October 6 - December 8, 2026 Tuesdays 6:00am-7:30am Sydney Australia time 5 places available $360 USD Outcomes In this course you will learn to read and speak Ancient Greek, building upon part one of the textbook…
- [Greek 181b LGPSI (2604)](https://thepatrologist.com/greek-181b-lgpsi-2604.md) - A 10-week live online course for learning Ancient Greek through communicative methods October 6 - December 8, 2026 Tuesdays 8:00pm-9:00pm New York time 5 places available $150 USD Outcomes In this course you will learn to read and speak Ancient Greek, using the current draft of LGPSI 2.0, μῦθος τῆς…
- [Greek 182a LGPSI (2604)](https://thepatrologist.com/greek-182a-lgpsi-2604.md) - A 10-week live online course for learning Ancient Greek through communicative methods October 5 - December 7, 2026 Mondays 9:00pm-10:00pm Sydney Australia time 5 places available $100 USD Outcomes In this course you will learn to read and speak Ancient Greek, using the current draft of LGPSI 2.0, μ…
- [Greek 240 LXX Psalms (2604)](https://thepatrologist.com/greek-240-lxx-psalms-2604.md) - A 10-week live online course reading and discussing an ancient text, in Ancient Greek. October 8 - December 10, 2026 Thursdays 9:00pm-10:00pm New York time 5 places available $240 USD Outcomes In this course we will read and discuss selections from the Septuagint version of the Psalms. You will be…
- [Greek 262: Greek Audio Adventures (2604)](https://thepatrologist.com/greek-262-greek-audio-adventures-2604.md) - A 10-week live online course focused on developing listening skills in Ancient Greek October 8 - December 10, 2026 Thursdays 8:00pm-9:00pm New York time 5 places available $240 USD Outcomes In this course we will use various exercises to develop a better 'ear' for hearing spoken Greek. Classes will…
- [Latin 104 LLPSI (2604)](https://thepatrologist.com/latin-104-llpsi-2604.md) - A 10-week live online course for learning Latin through communicative methods October 6 - December 8, 2026 Tuesdays 9:00pm-10:00pm New York time 5 places available $240 USD Outcomes This is the fourth of a series of courses that introduces you to Latin, primarily classical Latin as a spoken and wri…
- [Greek and Latin resources](https://thepatrologist.com/learn.md) - Here are a number of resources produced by myself. Audio Print Video The Podcast
- [Links](https://thepatrologist.com/links.md) - Here are some links to other things I have around the web. YouTube Most of my Greek content can be found on youtube.com/@thepatrologist Occasionally I publish videos discussing one verse at a time in Koine on καθ' ἡμέρᾱν. Podcast I produce irregular solo episodes on the podcast ὁ διὰ νυκτὸς διάλογο…
- [Shop](https://thepatrologist.com/shop.md) - Classes Firstly, if you are looking for the courses I teach in Ancient Greek and Latin, they are located here: Courses. I have a self-paced asynchronous course for Athenaze available here. Books My Greek novella ὁ ἐπὶ Τροίᾱν Πόλεμος is available through Storybase books: Ὁ ἐπὶ Τροίαν Πόλεμος (Ho e…
- [Test Course](https://thepatrologist.com/test-course.md) - This is a test page. You will not receive anything for enrolling here. Course details Dates: October 6 - December 6, 2026 Duration: 10 weeks Classes: 10 × 90 minutes Location: Online via Zoom Time: Tuesdays 6:30-9:00pm New York time Maximum enrolment: 6 students Price: 0 USD Enrol now — $0 USD
- [Test e-book](https://thepatrologist.com/test-e-book.md) - This page is a test page. If you purchase the below file, you will receive a 1-page test pdf. Buy the ebook
- [Testimonials](https://thepatrologist.com/testimonials.md) - On this page you will find testimonials from students. Interviews with students: A range of interviews with current and former students is available on youtube. Testimonials I've taken Greek at the undergraduate and graduate level; however, my reading has always been labored, and I had no ability t…
- [The Podcast](https://thepatrologist.com/the-podcast.md) - Here you'll find permanent links to my Greek-language podcast. The main page is here: ὁ διὰ νυκτὸς διάλογος Also available on iTunes and other places, try searching for the Greek name ὁ διὰ νυκτὸς διάλογος (I recommend copying and pasting) Here's an episode list that I'll endeavour to keep mostly u…
- [Individual Tutoring](https://thepatrologist.com/tutoring.md) - Are you interested in individual tutoring in Greek or Latin? I am currently available to tutor students privately in either of these languages, tailoring sessions to match your individual needs, preferences, and goals. The current fee for individual tutoring is USD $50/hour. If you are interested,…
- [Video Resources](https://thepatrologist.com/video.md) - On this page you will find links to video materials related to Greek and Latin that I have produced. You can find all my current videos on my YouTube Channel. In particular, you might also like to watch: 1. Introductory Greek via Where are Your Keys. In this 36 minute video I recorded a live class…

## Posts
- [Why grammar-translation is wrong and doesn't work](https://thepatrologist.com/why-grammar-translation-is-wrong-and-will-never-work.md) - Just putting it out there. I will never cease to be amazed at how committed many people are to the Grammar-Translation method. Here I want to succinctly (re-)state the case for why this method is fundamentally flawed. To do so, let's look briefly at two things: what GTM does, and then the fundament…
- [2026 Term 4 Classes](https://thepatrologist.com/2026-term-4-classes.md) - I'm very pleased to let you know about my slate of classes planned for the final term of 2026, starting in October. I'll be running two of my introductory Athenaze courses: 102 and 103, covering chs 9-16 and 17-24 respectively. I will run a new 101 course early in 2027. I'll also be running two cou…
- [Learn to speak Old Irish](https://thepatrologist.com/learn-to-speak-old-irish.md) - Several weeks ago I came across Francesco Felici's doctoral dissertation on teaching Old Irish as a living language. I wrote a little bit about it here, and some other thoughts here, and probably some more to come in a subsequent post or two (the other chapters of his thesis are all quite interesti…
- [Why learn ancient Greek when minority languages are dying? A response](https://thepatrologist.com/why-learn-ancient-greek-when-minority-languages-are-dying-a-response.md) - Again at the recently held TCLS2026 I heard my friend and colleague in language teaching, Carla Hurt, address almost the above topic. Her topic was slightly different, because it focused on the question of Australian Aboriginal Languages. I thoroughly enjoyed Hurt's presentation, and appreciated ho…
- [What's a textbook for?](https://thepatrologist.com/whats-a-textbook-for.md) - I recently attended the bi-annual Teaching Classical Languages Symposium here in Sydney. I don't have a single post abut the TCLS overall, and so I'll say a bit about it here by way of introduction. TCLS has been running for 8 years now, I believe, and I've spoken at 4 of them (!). I unfortunately…
- [LGPSI 2.0, August 2026 Update](https://thepatrologist.com/lgpsi-2-0-august-2026-update.md) - People have mostly stopped asking me about LGPSI, which I suppose is nice in one way, though a bit concerning in another. Well, I have mostly good news about what's happening with it. But if you don't know what LGPSI even is, go here. Firstly, I am writing it. That's the most important thing. 1,000…
- [Learning sounds you don't have](https://thepatrologist.com/learning-sounds-you-dont-have.md) - I long ago grew pretty tired of the pronunciation wars over Ancient Greek. I have opinions, have read a bunch of the literature, and have made my piece with how I currently pronounce Greek in different contexts. This doesn't mean I don't care about it, but I think there are lots of other things wor…
- [The hours problem](https://thepatrologist.com/the-hours-problem.md) - I'm running lots of calculations these days, you might notice. Some of that is driven by projects I'm working on, some of it is me being curious. I'm also back into reading a lot more SLA literature than in recent years. You might be aware there are some guidelines on how many guided hours one need…
- [How many words do you need to have read?](https://thepatrologist.com/how-many-words-do-you-need-to-have-read.md) - Lately I've been thinking a lot about the need for extensive reading, and how that's challenging for Ancient Greek, but also very necessary. In particular, the question I've been asking, or set of questions, looks like the following: 1. How many 'words' do you need to 'know' to reach certain profic…
- [What 98% comprehensibility looks like](https://thepatrologist.com/what-98-comprehensibility-looks-like.md) - I am sure that I have posted this before, but I have found myself re-referencing it several times in the past couple of weeks, and so I had to go digging to find what I had in mind. Now, at least, I can just search my own website. Back in the late 2010s I remember very vividly an example in English…
- [10 years of SeumasU](https://thepatrologist.com/10-years-of-seumasu.md) - If you are fortunate enough to have any of our excellent merch, you might notice that it has an 'established' date of 2016. That was me trying to retroactively figure out when I started teaching online. But actually on May 1st, 2015, I received a polite email inquiry from a woman inquiring about La…
- [A History of communicative methods for Latin and Ancient Greek, easily missed](https://thepatrologist.com/a-history-of-communicative-methods-for-latin-and-ancient-greek.md) - I have just been reading the amazing and intriguing doctoral dissertation by Francesco Felici, entitled "Now You’re Talking... Old Irish Towards a conversational approach to teaching Old Irish", and I want to share both the dissertation, and some related thoughts. The thesis itself is fascinating b…
- [Grammar-Translation as a fall back position](https://thepatrologist.com/grammar-translation-as-a-fall-back-position.md) - In today's post I want to muse a little about the practice of using grammar-translation as a 'fall-back' position for when some type of communicative teaching 'isn't working'. I mean that in two different ways, and I think teasing out those two things will be useful. Full disclosure, this is occasi…
- [About the new site](https://thepatrologist.com/about-the-new-site.md) - As I wrote very briefly last week, I've moved thepatrologist over to a new site. In this post I want to talk about where we've come from, then very briefly about why the move, and then about where to find things that have gone missing, and what things might look like moving forward. The Past I firs…
- [Language learning: Necromancy vs Time Travel](https://thepatrologist.com/language-learning-necromancy-vs-time-travel.md) - What does language exist for? Why learn languages? The answers to both of these questions are tied together: communication. Language exists fort he purpose of communication. That is, you and I as sentient beings share something, and we express and exchange meaning through the means of language. So…
- [Welcome](https://thepatrologist.com/coming-soon.md) - This is The Patrologist, the new but old site by Seumas Macdonald. I have a bit of tidying to do and making things more functional, but you can look forward to posts on language acquisition, ancient Greek and Latin, classics and patristics, and similar related topics. In the meantime you can subscr…
- [What's worth doing: between the gym and the factory floor](https://thepatrologist.com/whats-worth-doing-between-the-gym-and-the-factory-floor.md) - Even as I wrote my last post, I considered complicating the metaphor I borrowed from Keeline: If you are working in a factory, you would be foolish not to use a forklift to lift things. If you are working out in a gym, you would be foolish to use a forklift to lift things. I held back at that point…
- [Whither the humanities](https://thepatrologist.com/whither-the-humanities.md) - (This was originally posted to my substack. But I think it's such an important piece, and it crosses the divide between my two blogging spaces, that I am reposting it here) The university sector is in crisis, humanities are under threat, AI is killing our ability to think, tech has ruined us, and t…
- [Kevilex: An online Ancient Greek reading platform](https://thepatrologist.com/kevilex-an-online-ancient-greek-reading-platform.md) - Next in my series of things to share and tell you I'm excited about, Kevilex. (Just to be clear, this post is in no way sponsored by Kevilex. I just appreciate it so much I decided to tell you about it all). So excited, I made a whole video about it, which you can watch below. But here's my shorter…
- [Graecitas: a blog worth your time](https://thepatrologist.com/graecitas-a-blog-worth-your-time.md) - In this post, and a few more to follow, I want to share a few Greek-related things that I think are worthy of wider dissemination. The first in this little series, then, is the site Graecitas.com, run by Henry Quillen, and I want to highlight the blog in particular which I think is full of interest…
- [Tensions and challenges in introducing Communicative methods in an educational setting](https://thepatrologist.com/tensions-and-challenges-in-introducing-communicative-methods-in-an-educational-setting.md) - (This post inspired by a conversation I was in.) There are lots of challenges, difficulties, and tensions in trying to adapt/change/alter/move a sequence of langauge teaching over to a more communicative approach. This is especially true in institutional settings, and probably moreso in seminaries…
- [The inestimable value of podcasts](https://thepatrologist.com/the-inestimable-value-of-podcasts.md) - Probably one of the best things I've ever done for my language learning has been time spent listening to podcasts. The year was 2018 (I know, a long time ago). We were preparing for our first ever Australian Rusticatio (first and penultimate), and I was starting to get going on teaching communicati…
- [The idea of a word](https://thepatrologist.com/the-idea-of-a-word.md) - Lots of my current thoughts are emerging out of my studies in Gaelic this semester. Today I want to talk a little about how we conceptualise a 'word'. And why it's so problematic a concept but ineluctably so. I think that a lot of us, when we are children in our teens, perhaps earlier, go through t…
- [What date is it, ancient Greek edition](https://thepatrologist.com/what-date-is-it-ancient-greek-edition.md) - I've been working away on writing course notes for λαλεῖτε, which is designed to be a course in "how would you learn to speak Ancient Greek, as if you were doing a course for a modern language and learning the basic language that a CEFR-A1 course might teach?" It's been a really good exercise for m…
- [Time and language learning: Friend, Enemy, Resource, and Measure](https://thepatrologist.com/time-and-language-learning-friend-enemy-resource-and-measure.md) - Best Friend When it comes to language learning, time is your friend. It's there every step of the way, and you are going to be spending a lot of it to get anywhere. And so don't sweat it. Enjoy the ride. It will take time, and that's okay. Just keep spending time with the language and you will adva…
- [Adventures in Gaelic](https://thepatrologist.com/adventures-in-gaelic.md) - I mostly write about classical languages here, Greek and Latin, but long time readers will know that I have been a long-time learner of Scottish Gaelic [1] . I thought it might be informative if I wrote a little bit about what I'm currently doing for my Gaelic studies, as a window into thinking abo…
- [The best place to learn Ancient Greek probably isn't a college anymore](https://thepatrologist.com/the-best-place-to-learn-ancient-greek-probably-isnt-a-college-anymore.md) - Two things occasion my reflection today. Firstly, the crisis now engulfing U Chicago, and its internal documents circulated, regarding cutting humanities, languages in particular, sending students off to other institutions, trying to get AI to teach languages. There's a lot more to be said about th…
- [Gregory Stringer and the new AP Pliny](https://thepatrologist.com/gregory-stringer-and-the-new-ap-pliny.md) - If you haven't heard elsewhere, Gregory Stringer, an excellent and experienced Latin speaker and teacher, is running a course starting in September geared towards the new AP Latin course covering Pliny. He and I talk about the new curriculum, his new workbook, and the course in this video. Places a…
- [So what's happening with LGPSI?](https://thepatrologist.com/so-whats-happening-with-lgpsi.md) - It's probably everybody's favourite question for me, and one of my least favourite, because I know how much people want this to progress, and I want it to progress, and it's ... slow-moving. So in today's post I want to tell you what's happening with it at this very moment. But firstly, let's just…
- [New Book: The Trojan War](https://thepatrologist.com/new-book-the-trojan-war.md) - I'm pleased to announce here the launch of my book, Ὁ ἐπὶ Τροίᾱν Πόλεμος (the Trojan War). The novella is a translation and adaptation of Bellum Troianum by Brian Gronewoller, it's a 5000 word novella for Elementary-Mid readers. It's a great little book, and I recommend it to you! Today I want to s…
- [Hear from some real in-person SeumasU students...](https://thepatrologist.com/hear-from-some-real-in-person-seumasu-students.md)
- [What's New at SeumasU, Jan 2025 edition](https://thepatrologist.com/whats-new-at-seumasu-jan-2025-edition.md) - I've held off writing this for a few reasons, but time is running out on me. Firstly, I enjoyed a summer holiday here in Australia, and did my best not to work. That was successful, but now it's time for me to return from sun and sand and take up the digital pen again. Secondly, I was going to reco…
- [100 simple stories](https://thepatrologist.com/100-simple-stories.md) - I know that you are used to me announcing projects and not exactly completing them. It's a character flaw. I'm working on it.Over on my patreon I have begun releasing, one a week, short 100-ish word stories. These stories are composed with very restricted vocabulary, and predominantly use the prese…
- [Changes in my Athenaze-sequence classes for 2025](https://thepatrologist.com/changes-in-my-athenaze-sequence-classes-for-2025.md) - χαίρετε πάντες! After 5 years of teaching students their way through Athenaze in an online environment, I've become very familiar with the book and its main narrative, and I've taught a lot of people all the way through both volumes now. In 2025, as part of a number of other changes going on around…
- [Explaining cases as jobs with tasks](https://thepatrologist.com/explaining-cases-as-jobs-with-tasks.md) - Not the most inspiring title for a blog post, I know. Yesterday I was beginning to explain grammatical case to some new students, and it's the first time many of them have dealt with this concept at all, and my teaching method with them so far hasn't really involved any explicit grammar instruction…
- [On the norms of the language we teach](https://thepatrologist.com/on-the-norms-of-the-language-we-teach.md) - A little while back I became involved in a discussion about whether it was okay to use/teach people to use the 2nd person negative aorist imperatives. E.g. is it okay to teach learners to say μὴ φάγε or similar. This is the kind of thing that should be in a textbook, and frankly most textbooks are…
- [In-person Greek class, October 2024!](https://thepatrologist.com/in-person-greek-class-october-2024.md) - It's been a very long time since I've taught Greek in-person. Before the coronavirus. But it's going to happen. When? Monday nights, 7:30pm-9:30pm, for 10 weeks starting October 14th. Where? Lane Cove Anglican Church, Sydney, Australia. (please don't relocate to Australia for my classes) How much?…
- [ἠγέρθη - he's up](https://thepatrologist.com/-e1-bc-a0-ce-b3-ce-ad-cf-81-ce-b8-ce-b7-hes-up.md) - Students of mine will know my predilection to call the θη forms of the so-called 'aorist passive' instead 'theta-eta middles'. In today's post, I want to explore how this understanding of the middle helps us make better sense of biblical texts. In Mark 16:6 we read: 6 ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐταῖς· μὴ ἐκθαμβεῖ…
- [A Greek Patristics masterclass?](https://thepatrologist.com/a-greek-patristics-masterclass.md) - I just want to float the idea here of something I have tried more than once to get up and running, but never really gotten the uptake. But essentially I would really love to get a reading-group / masterclass going that read Greek Patristic texts. It's hard work once you're out of the beginner stage…
- [Interview on "Greeking Out"](https://thepatrologist.com/interview-on-greeking-out.md) - I recently was interviewed by Fletcher Hardison on his podcast series "Greeking Out", which you can listen to here. Fletcher did a previous interview with me about 4.5 years ago, so it makes interesting reflection on what's changed in my life, and the Greek-educational space, in that time.
- [Greek resources in 2024, a hopeful prospectus](https://thepatrologist.com/greek-resources-in-2024-a-hopeful-prospectus.md) - We've been a bit quiet here.I think my days of blogging constantly and consistently about SLA and historical languages has simmered down a lot. I'm less worked up about all the people doing it wrong, and feel like I've talked over a lot of the terrain anyway. It's still a field that interests me, b…
- [New Courses, October Term](https://thepatrologist.com/new-courses-october-term.md) - Well, we are back with a new set of classes beginning on October 8th. I have a relatively limited range of classes for the upcoming term, but I hope there's something you will like and enjoy. New 101 cohorts in Latin and Greek will start in the new year, and I am already planning courses for 2024 (…
- [Plato's Lysis and conceptual ambiguity: φίλος](https://thepatrologist.com/platos-lysis-and-conceptual-ambiguity--cf-86-ce-af-ce-bb-ce-bf-cf-82.md) - I've been reading through Plato's Lysis this teaching term, and it's a great deal of fun, and quite interesting. One of the things I've noted is the difficulty we have of teasing out two senses of φίλος, and I feel like Socrates is exploiting this at times. A quick visit to the lexicon, or reading…
- [New Courses at The Patrologist!](https://thepatrologist.com/new-courses-at-the-patrologist.md) - Hi all! I know we have been for the most part quiet on this blog. Various projects continue to tick away. But this post is to let you know about the upcoming classes I'll be teaching, including new beginner cohorts for Greek and Latin. These start the week of July 16th. If you want to hear about th…
- [Bread for the oncoming day](https://thepatrologist.com/bread-for-the-oncoming-day.md) - It's perhaps the trickiest phrase (at least language-wise) in the Lord's Prayer: τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον (Mt 6:11.) And what on earth does ἐπιούσιον mean? It's not at all helped by the fact that this word only turns up in texts here, and then in commentaries on this text by la…
- [ΛΟΓΟΣ (LGPSI): a review](https://thepatrologist.com/-ce-bb-ce-bf-ce-b3-ce-bf-cf-83-lgpsi-a-review.md) - ΛΟΓΟΣ : ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΓΛΩΣΣΑ ΑΥΤΟΕΙΚΟΝΟΓΡΑΦΗΜΕΝΗ (Logos. Lingua Graeca Per Se Illustrata) by Santiago Carbonell Martínez ISBN: 978-84-945346-6-9 (Available from Libreria Aurea. I purchased mine via amazon.es) Note: there is a resource site with a large number of auxiliary resources, which I have not rev…
- [The Good begrudges no-one: Athanasius and Plato](https://thepatrologist.com/the-good-begrudges-no-one-athanasius-and-plato.md) - I recently tweeted (yes, that dying star-system) that I had recognised an allusion to Plato's Timaeus while reading Athanasius recently. I don't at all think that I am the first to notice this particular allusion, but it was a thrill to recognise it just from the happenstance of working through bot…
- [Upcoming Classes - April 2023](https://thepatrologist.com/upcoming-classes-april-2023.md) - Well, it's coming up towards the end of our teaching term at #SeumasU, and we're looking ahead to the next term (starts Apr 23rd). If you haven't heard about upcoming classes somewhere else yet, here's what we're teaching: Beginner Greek Classes These all use Athenaze as a teaching text for a conve…
- [It's really possible](https://thepatrologist.com/its-really-possible.md) - I started offering SeumasU classes (not by that name!) in 2019. I went full-time (ish), ditching my other work in 2020 thanks to the pandemic. So I'm now steaming and streaming into my 4th year of trying to teach somewhat-more-communicatively, online, as a full-time occupation (it's not full-time,…
- [So, you want to study Ancient Greek and don't want to take a course, 2023 edition](https://thepatrologist.com/so-you-want-to-study-ancient-greek-and-dont-want-to-take-a-course-2023-edition.md) - Here's my general advice for autodidacts, people looking to do a lot of Greek reading, or anyone really wanting to kickstart and turbo-charge their Ancient Greek. It's also more of less what I tell students to do (especially if they have finished Athenaze vol 1) These days I would almost certainly…
- [Experiments with ChatGPT in Ancient Greek and Latin](https://thepatrologist.com/experiments-with-chatgpt-in-ancient-greek-and-latin.md) - So, like many people I'm intrigued by the possibilities of chatGPT. I have been particularly impressed that it renders responses to prompts for Latin with texts that on the whole both (a) grammatical, and (b) make sense. On the whole, it struggles with Ancient Greek, often producing texts in Modern…
- [The Beatitudes, a new translation](https://thepatrologist.com/the-beatitudes-a-new-translation.md) - The poor in spirit - that's the good life! The Heavenly Reign is theirs.Mourners - good on ya! They'll be comforted.The meek are bonzer, they'll get the Land as an inheritance.Hungry and thirsting for justice? Too beaut. They'll have all they can eat.Showing mercy? Sweet as. They'll be shown mercy…
- [πόρνος and πόρνη in 1 Corinthians](https://thepatrologist.com/-cf-80-cf-8c-cf-81-ce-bd-ce-bf-cf-82-and--cf-80-cf-8c-cf-81-ce-bd-ce-b7-in-1-corinthians.md) - Why is πόρνη translated as 'prostitute', but πόρνος is not? This question arose on the sinking-ship of Twitter, and since I was tagged, I started to think about it. I don't have a very in-depth answer, in that I'm not a lexicographer, nor I have really done a very very deep dive on the question, bu…
- [Gender and translation into Ancient Greek: a conundrum](https://thepatrologist.com/gender-and-translation-into-ancient-greek-a-conundrum.md) - Lately I have been listening to Ursula Le Guin's classic novel The Left Hand of Darkness, which portrays the world of Gethen, populated by a version of humans that are androgynous most of the time, except for a period once a month (kemmer) where they become male or female. It's a good novel, and it…
- [Syra Surda : a simple technique for forced indirect discourse](https://thepatrologist.com/syra-surda-a-simple-technique-for-forced-indirect-discourse.md) - Syra, quae male audit, id quod medicus dīcit audīre nōn potest; itaque interrogat: "quid dīcit medicus?" Aemilia (in aurem Syrae): 'Medicus puerum dormīre' dīcit." So, in Chapter 11 of Familia Romana, Ørberg uses a simple but effective technique to introduce indirect speech (oratio obliqua, or as I…
- [CEFR musings](https://thepatrologist.com/cefr-musings.md) - In light of last week’s discussions on twitter and then here, I ended up doing a bunch of reading and reflection about CEFR things… Not that you have the time, but sitting down and reading some of the extended documentation on CEFR scales is not an unprofitable activity. I think in a lot of discuss…
- [the other blog](https://thepatrologist.com/the-other-blog.md) - I realised that not everybody is on twitter (blessed are you), and so here's a short note that a few months back I started (yet) another blog/substack, in which I write about Christian life, praxis, and do book reviews. If that's of interest to you, hie ye to jeltzz.substack.com
- [Should everyone who's not C2 in Greek just shut up already?](https://thepatrologist.com/should-everyone-whos-not-c2-in-greek-just-shut-up-already.md) - I'm responding to recent twitter Discourse kicked off by @CarolusCarman about whether the push for CI means that we are in favour of sub-par content, and whether it's okay that the classics world has a bunch of people running around who aren't truly 'proficient' teaching or producing content. This…
- [Ad Aspera Per Cameras: an online conference](https://thepatrologist.com/ad-aspera-per-cameras-an-online-conference.md) - This weekend, I'll be hosting an online conference on the online teaching of (classical) languages. If you haven't heard that by now, apologies for not telling you! I thought I would put up a last call for registrations here. It's On Saturday 15th October, 3-6pm US Eastern Time (New York). You can…
- [Strange Fruit, an ancient Greek Translation](https://thepatrologist.com/strange-fruit-an-ancient-greek-translation.md) - Strange Fruit (original by Abel Meeropol) (English Below) καρπὸν τὰ τοῦ νότου ξύλα φέρει ἄτοπον (ἐπί τε φύλλοις αἷμα, τῇ τε ῥίζῃ αἷμα) ἀνέμῳ σῶμα αἰωρούμενον μέλαν νότῳ ἄτοπος τῶν λευκῶν κρεμασθεὶς καρπός νόμιον τοῦ ἐσθλοῦ νότου θέαμα ἐξῳδημένα τε ὄμματα στόμα τε διεστραμμένον μαγνωλίᾱς εὐωδίᾱ καιν…
- [Psalms: An LXX Devotional Reader](https://thepatrologist.com/psalms-an-lxx-devotional-reader.md) - I realise that by now you are mostly used to me starting umpteen projects. Some of those get finished. Some of them are ongoing. And some eventually wither and die due to my lack of impetus. Anyway, none of that deters me, really. I spend my free time working on things that I get passionate about,…
- [re-re-thinking online theological education (part 5: imagining and reimagining)](https://thepatrologist.com/re-re-thinking-online-theological-education-part-5-imagining-and-reimagining.md) - So, if you've read through parts one, two, three, four, you'll have gathered that I have a lot of criticism of online theological education as a model. In this post I want to push back against myself, and really suggest that there are two key things that are worth thinking through and applying. Fir…
- [Read Greek Patristics with me, and make books](https://thepatrologist.com/read-greek-patristics-with-me-and-make-books.md) - This upcoming term (Oct 2022) I'm launching a new class which I'm hoping will become a long running entity. It's Greek Patristics Readings, and it differs in two important respects from my usual class offerings. Firstly, unlike the vast majority of my classes, this class isn't geared towards gettin…
- [re-re-thinking online theological education (part 4: What happens when we go online?)](https://thepatrologist.com/re-re-thinking-online-theological-education-part-4-what-happens-when-we-go-online.md) - This is part four of our series reflecting on online theological education. In our previous instalments we considered what for, who for, what is education, and who are our communities. Now I want to turn to "what happens when we go online"Distance education has existed for a good while. Hans Ørberg…
- [Upcoming courses (Oct 2022)](https://thepatrologist.com/upcoming-courses-oct-2022.md) - Upcoming classes! (I stopped doing posts simply about upcoming classes, mostly to reduce clutter, but I realise some people read this blog but do not get updates on my courses via other means. So, I'll make a habit of doing a regular post before each term, and then deleting it subsequently) I have…
- [re-re-thinking online theological education (part 3: community)](https://thepatrologist.com/re-re-thinking-online-theological-education-part-3-community.md) - In our previous two posts we reflected on what for and who for theological education exists, before discussing (albeit far far too briefly), what education is. In this post I turn to consider the question of 'communities' - which communities are in view when we talk about education as a formative e…
- [re-re-thinking online theological education (part 2: What is education?)](https://thepatrologist.com/re-re-thinking-online-theological-education-part-2-what-is-education.md) - In the previous post in this series, I began to reflect upon the nature of theological education, and online education in particular, through the lens of what for and who for. In this post I want to turn our attention to "what" education is. What exactly do we think we are doing when we are educati…
- [re-re-thinking online theological education (part 1)](https://thepatrologist.com/re-re-thinking-online-theological-education-part-1.md) - In this and a series of subsequent posts I'm going to think-out-loud my thoughts on theological colleges, seminaries, and online education. If you're here usually for mostly classical language pedagogy, feel free to take a short break from reading! But otherwise, we're going to be thinking about fi…
- [Reflections on the practice of reading, GTM vs ComAp, mental translation, and other things](https://thepatrologist.com/reflections-on-the-practice-of-reading-gtm-vs-comap-mental-translation-and-other-things.md) - This post is a response to a twitter thread by David Schroder, responding to another twitter thread by biblingo, responding to another twitter thread by me. Twitter threads three-deep. Anyway, David is a current student of mine, and biblingo are friends-in-languages, so this is written in a spirit…
- [On forgetting languages](https://thepatrologist.com/on-forgetting-languages.md) - What's it like to forget a language? or two? And what does that mean for acquired vs. 'learned' language? In this post I reflect upon my experience with two separate languages, and how different forgetting can be. Learning (Biblical) Hebrew I studied Biblical Hebrew in Seminary, for three years way…
- [Why the study of the classics? Why humanities?  Some thoughts in progress](https://thepatrologist.com/why-the-study-of-the-classics-why-humanities-some-thoughts-in-progress.md) - “Nearly all the wisdom which we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern.” ~ Calvin, the Institutes 1.1.1 This may seem an odd p…
- [Interview on Biblical languages, Christian Ministry, and Communicative Language Approaches](https://thepatrologist.com/interview-on-biblical-languages-christian-ministry-and-communicative-language-approaches.md)
- [Projects and Processes](https://thepatrologist.com/projects-and-processes.md) - I know, I am notorious for starting new projects, and not necessarily finishing them. Anyway, that's a personal flaw I'm working on. In this post I'm going to talk about two newish projects I'm working on and a bit about how I'm tackling them. Both of them are "Readers", i.e. graded reading texts d…
- [Learn Ancient Greek from Athenaze with a Stand-Alone Video Course](https://thepatrologist.com/learn-ancient-greek-from-athenaze-with-a-stand-alone-video-course.md) - The best way to learn Ancient Greek is with a live teacher, in person, with lots of contact time, speaking, talking, reading, writing. That's not possible for everyone, and I don't have a position that lets me teach like that anyway. It's why SeumasU exists - to provide a way for people throughout…
- [A short LGPSI update](https://thepatrologist.com/a-short-lgpsi-update.md) - I know that everyone is always excited to hear about LGPSI and what's happening or not happening. I'm pleased to report that some things are happening. I try not to ever make promises about LGPSI progress, because I never want to disappoint you with expectations unfulfilled. Firstly, I'm doing some…
- [Mark Jeong's Greek Reader: A Review](https://thepatrologist.com/mark-jeongs-greek-reader-a-review.md) - A Greek Reader: A companion to A Primer of Biblical Greek, by Mark Jeong. Eerdmans 2022 This review comes in two parts. Firstly, I'm going to give some general impressions and thoughts on the book as a whole. Following that, I have some specific notes on the Greek text throughout, combining things…
- [Via Latina: A review](https://thepatrologist.com/via-latina-a-review.md) - Via Latina: De Lingua et Vita Romanorum, by Maria Luisa Aguilar & Jorge Tarrega This is a new, and much anticipated volume, put out by Cultura Clásica, a Spanish outfit responsible for a good deal of quality Latin and Greek materials, but about whom I confess to know very little. The preface (writt…
- [Why summative assessment is so problematic](https://thepatrologist.com/why-summative-assessment-is-so-problematic.md) - (I confess, I wrote this in more of a twitter-thread style of composition, so it reads a bit scattered)I take it that summation assessment is an attempt to assess to what extent a learner has met the overall final learning goals of a unit of instruction. I'm going to assume that we're talking about…
- [Catullus 1-9, translations](https://thepatrologist.com/catullus-1-9-translations.md) - In my spare time I have been pottering away at some Catullus translations. You can find recordings of these on my soundcloud as well. Warning: Catullus is fairly liberal in his use of expletives, so if profanity offends you, read no further. He's also not a very nice person. 1 Who wants their name…
- [The Road to Latin, Greekified](https://thepatrologist.com/the-road-to-latin-greekified.md) - Recently the twitterverse was aptly reminded by Dr. Marchella Ward of the existence of "The Road to Latin", a very fine Latin introductory textbook from 1932, not least because it was authored by a Black Woman, Helen Maria Chestnutt. On the whole, it makes excellent reading material for any beginni…
- [The Just City, Greekified](https://thepatrologist.com/the-just-city-greekified.md) - Look, I'm not saying I'm actually going to translate a whole novel into Ancient Greek, but here's the first page of Jo Walton's amazing speculative-fiction novel/classical reception, The Just City, rendered into Ancient Greek. Ἡ πόλις ἡ Δικαίᾱ Α’ · Ἀπόλλων μεταβέβληται εἰς δένδρον, τοῦτ᾿ ἦν τὸ μυστ…
- [Discussing Ancient Greek Linguistics in Ancient Greek](https://thepatrologist.com/discussing-ancient-greek-linguistics-in-ancient-greek.md) - In the last couple of days, occasioned at first by a tweet and corresponding discussions from Steven Runge, I’ve been teasing out in my head and a little bit of dialogue the difficulties of the “advanced discussion of Greek in Greek” question. It’s a question that any living language approach has t…
- [The Siblingless Son: μονογενής in Greek literature (6): the Johannine literature](https://thepatrologist.com/the-siblingless-son--ce-bc-ce-bf-ce-bd-ce-bf-ce-b3-ce-b5-ce-bd-e1-bd-b5-cf-82-in-greek-literature-6-the-johannine-literature.md) - Part 6 of our ongoing series (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) We turn now to consider the Johannine references, which are five: 1:14, 18, 3:16, 18, and 1 John 4:9. Throughout this section I content that the established meaning of ‘siblingless’ in contexts referring to persons continues to make best sense of the…
- [πυροβόλος ψυχόπτερος](https://thepatrologist.com/-cf-80-cf-85-cf-81-ce-bf-ce-b2-e1-bd-b9-ce-bb-ce-bf-cf-82--cf-88-cf-85-cf-87-e1-bd-b9-cf-80-cf-84-ce-b5-cf-81-ce-bf-cf-82.md) - Download Bullet-with-butterfly-Wings-Anc-Greek.mp3 Here, for your ancient Greek pleasure, I present Smashing Pumpkin's Bullet with Butterfly Wings. Audio: (I sing quite badly. If anyone wants to re-record with a more delightful voice, I'm very happy to assist them to do so) Lyrics: λαμίᾱ ὁ κόσμος ὡ…
- [Duolingo, a love/hate story](https://thepatrologist.com/duolingo-a-love-hate-story.md) - I have a long and complicated relationship with Duolingo . The hate side, in short, is that I think the way Duolingo models language and thinks/treats language is fundamentally atomistic and inimical to good principles of second language acquisition. The love side is that I actually enjoy and conti…
- [The Siblingless Son: μονογενής in Greek literature (5): the 1st to 3rd century CE](https://thepatrologist.com/the-siblingless-son--ce-bc-ce-bf-ce-bd-ce-bf-ce-b3-ce-b5-ce-bd-e1-bd-b5-cf-82-in-greek-literature-5-the-1st-to-3rd-century-ce.md) - Part 5 of our ongoing series (1, 2, 3, and 4) 1st to 3rd CE usages Rather than turn directly to John, which is really the interpretative crux, we turn now to consider a range of usages, primarily non-Christian, across the first three centuries CE. Our focus here is on seeing that the patterns of us…
- [Introducing καθ' ἡμέραν](https://thepatrologist.com/introducing--ce-ba-ce-b1-ce-b8--e1-bc-a1-ce-bc-e1-bd-b3-cf-81-ce-b1-ce-bd.md) - An old tweet came back to life recently on my timeline, as we saw the launch of Daily Dose of Aramaic. The tweet had me tagged as someone who could possibly do a 'Daily Dose of Greek' but monolingually in Greek. At the time I don't think I quite had the experience and wherewithal to make it happen.…
- [A living Ancient Greek project: LingQ's 60 Mini-Stories](https://thepatrologist.com/a-living-ancient-greek-project-lingqs-60-mini-stories.md) - I have been impressed and inspired by the conversion (to communicative approaches), commitment, and creativity of Carla Hurt over at Found in Antiquity in recent months, and especially the project to translate LingQ's 60 Mini-Stories into Latin. I am keen to see the same for Greek, so I've set up t…
- [The Siblingless Son: μονογενής in Greek literature (4): the New Testament (mostly) and Josephus](https://thepatrologist.com/the-siblingless-son--ce-bc-ce-bf-ce-bd-ce-bf-ce-b3-ce-b5-ce-bd-e1-bd-b5-cf-82-in-greek-literature-4-the-new-testament-mostly-and-josephus.md) - Part 4 of our ongoing series (1, 2 and 3) Josephus and the New Testament Corpus We turn now to consider occurrences in both the New Testament and Josephus. In the New Testament we find nine, in Josephus four.[1] The gospel of Luke contains three instances, Luke 7:12, 8:42, 9:38. These are all uncon…
- [The Siblingless Son: μονογενής in Greek literature (3): the LXX and the Hebrew Bible](https://thepatrologist.com/the-siblingless-son--ce-bc-ce-bf-ce-bd-ce-bf-ce-b3-ce-b5-ce-bd-e1-bd-b5-cf-82-in-greek-literature-3-the-lxx-and-the-hebrew-bible.md) - Part 3 of our ongoing series (1 and 2) Monogenes and the Hebrew Bible We turn now to consider the usage of μονογενής in the LXX, its relation to the Hebrew word yachid (יָחִיד), and the reverse relation of yachid to ἀγαπητός. The LXX has ten occurrences of μονογενής. One is a post-LXX Christian tex…
- [The Siblingless Son: μονογενής in Greek literature (2): 8th-1st century BCE](https://thepatrologist.com/the-siblingless-son--ce-bc-ce-bf-ce-bd-ce-bf-ce-b3-ce-b5-ce-bd-e1-bd-b5-cf-82-in-greek-literature-2-8th-1st-century-bce.md) - This is the second in our series examining the word μονογενής. We not turn out attention to the range of usage across Greek authors and literature. 8th to 6th Century The term μονογενής does not appear frequently in early Greek literature, with three instances in Hesiod, two in Aesop, and one in Ae…
- [Why are you “CI Folk” jerks?](https://thepatrologist.com/why-are-you-ci-folk-jerks.md) - This is one more in my ‘common objections’ to communicative approaches. And it was occasioned by @MetalClassicist, referencing this thread. I've not tried to directly address that thread, but somewhat more a general treatment of this topic. Firstly, let me acknowledge that plenty of “CI-folks” can…
- [The Siblingless Son: μονογενής in Greek literature (1)](https://thepatrologist.com/the-siblingless-son--ce-bc-ce-bf-ce-bd-ce-bf-ce-b3-ce-b5-ce-bd-e1-bd-b5-cf-82-in-greek-literature-1.md) - (This is the first in a series of posts in which I will extensively review the word μονογενής in Greek literature up to the 1st century CE, in the context of debates about its meaning in the Gospel of John, as well as Patristic usage of the term in the 4th century. A finalised version of this paper…
- [What’s wrong with LLPSI, part 4 – Addressing the content challenges](https://thepatrologist.com/whats-wrong-with-llpsi-part-4-addressing-the-content-challenges.md) - In this final part of our series, Gregory Stringer and I offer our reflections and some of our strategies in responding to the challenges and difficulties presented in part two of our series. (See also parts 1, 2b, and 3). As we teach in two different contexts (online synchronous small-group instru…
- [What's wrong with LLPSI, part 3 - Addressing the language challenges](https://thepatrologist.com/whats-wrong-with-llpsi-part-3.md) - In this post Gregory Stringer and I offer our reflections and some of our strategies in responding to the challenges and difficulties presented in part one of this series. As we teach in two different contexts (online synchronous small-group instruction of adults for myself, a US High School for Gr…
- [What's wrong with LLPSI, part 2b - Responding to Patrick Owens](https://thepatrologist.com/whats-wrong-with-llpsi-part-2b-responding-to-patrick-owens.md) - [Seumas: There's always a danger of saying too much, of trying to add words upon words upon words. However, I think a preface to the following post is deserving. In part one I laid out some of the language oriented problems in LLPSI, in part two Gregory Stringer has laid out some of the difficultie…
- [What's wrong with LLPSI, part 2](https://thepatrologist.com/whats-wrong-with-llpsi-part-2.md) - Today we have a guess post by Gregory Stringer, written with some input from myself. As discussed in Part I, LLPSI is an outstanding language teaching and learning tool. And also, it is not without flaws in terms of both language instruction and content. In Part I we looked at its flaws as a tool f…
- [What's wrong with LLPSI, Part 1](https://thepatrologist.com/whats-wrong-with-llpsi-part-1.md) - (This post co-written with Gregory Stringer) I (Seumas) am happily on record, and will continue to say, that Ørberg's Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, and in particular volume 1, Familia Romana, is one of the best language textbooks in any language. Not just that, but it is so by a very wide margin…
- [Doesn't a written corpus distort a spoken language?](https://thepatrologist.com/doesnt-a-written-corpus-distort-a-spoken-language.md) - Yes, but that's okay. In the comments on my recent post about Authentic Language, Alan Wood asks, "What difference does it make that we largely have ‘writing patterns’ rather than ‘speech patterns’?" I think this is neither a feature nor a bug, just a given, of both what we have, and what we are un…
- [You'll get it wrong - misrepresenting authentic language in communicative teaching](https://thepatrologist.com/youll-get-it-wrong-misrepresenting-authentic-language-in-communicative-teaching.md) - Yet another part of our series on objections to communicative methods One objection that you sometimes hear to more communicative methods is that those who are using historical languages productively will ‘get it wrong’ and thus be creating unrepresentative/incorrect language data for learners. Thi…

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