Reading the New Testament in the Original Greek | Dr. Philip Towner

The Examined Faith — Dr. Philip Towner on Why Greek Still MattersMost readers assume a good English Bible is enough. Dr. Philip Towner thinks something quietly disappears in every translation, and that learning biblical Greek — slowly, a page at a time — is how you get it back.In this episode of The Examined Faith, Tuppy Morrissey speaks with biblical scholar Dr. Philip Towner, a New Testament specialist, Episcopal priest, and professor of translation studies at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. Together they explore why reading the Greek New Testament in koine Greek changes biblical exegesis, why "disorientation" is good for the soul, and how a summer of reading a page a day reshaped his whole approach to hermeneutics.In this episode:Why reading Greek isn't a "silver bullet," but slows you down enough to actually see the text — the real first step in learning biblical GreekThe healthy disorientation of close reading, and the day John 1 suddenly opened onto the Jacob story in GenesisThe singular-to-plural "you" that quietly pulls the reader into the gospel, and why a footnote can't do thatRhetoric the English drops: the threefold "but" of 1 Corinthians 6 and the relentless repetition of parakaleō in 2 Corinthians 1 — biblical Greek grammar that carries meaning translation flattensTitus 2:13 and Romans 3:22: living ambiguities in the Greek that hermeneutics and tradition, not grammar alone, usually settleEusebeia, epiphaneia, parousia: borrowed imperial vocabulary and the church's quiet act of engagement with RomePreaching from the Greek without ever quoting it, and translation as keeping the Word aliveDavid Bentley Hart's foreignizing New Testament, and advice for anyone who wants to start (or restart) Greek: no gain without painThis podcast is part of Faithwave. https://www.faithwave.app/Chapters0:00 Title and introduction: meet Dr. Philip Towner0:29 Why learn Greek when we have good English Bibles?5:35 How Phil fell in love with Greek: a page a day13:07 Healthy disorientation: close reading the text16:09 John 1, Jacob's ladder, and the "you" that includes you23:39 Why the Pastoral Epistles?29:56 Romans, ambiguity, and what the Greek leaves open35:31 Titus 2:13 and the Greek genitive40:22 Eusebeia, epiphaneia, parousia: engaging Greco-Roman culture50:37 David Bentley Hart's foreignizing New Testament55:26 Advice for learning (or restarting) Greek: no gain without pain61:06 Closing and Faithwave#scripture #biblicalgreek #koinegreek #bibletranslation #newtestament #biblicalexegesis #christianfaith