Ancient Language Teaching and Graduate Reading Groups
Boston College offers coursework and hosts reading groups in the languages of the Bible, Church Fathers (Patristic Texts), ancient Greece and Rome both for graduate and undergraduate students. Anyone interested in studying ancient languages while at BC should consult both their academic advisor and a faculty member teaching the language as soon as possible in order to plan the most beneficial course of study. Courses of study will vary depending on the goals of the student (reading, researching, and/or teaching). Generally, it is advisable to begin language study as early as possible and continue it as consistently as possible.
(Please note: not all courses are taught every year. For example, Intermediate Hebrew at STM is offered every other year in rotation with Theology. Contact the school or department directly for further information.)
Courses
Faculty: Angela Harkins, Franklin Harkins, Maria Kakavas
- Elementary and Intermediate (Koine) NT Greek
- Elementary and Intermediate Ecclesiastical Latin
- Introductory OT Hebrew
Faculty: Jeffrey Cooley, Yonder Gillihan, David Hunter, Michael Magree, Pheme Perkins, Dieter Roth, David Vanderhooft
- Introductory Biblical Hebrew (Faculty)
- Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (Vanderhooft)
- Epigraphic Hebrew (Vanderhooft)
- Intermediate and Advanced Patristic Texts Greek and Latin (Perkins, Roth, Hunter, Magree)
Faculty: Hanne Eisenfeld, Kendra Eshleman, Gail Hoffman, Maria Kakavas, Chris Polt, Tom Sapsford, Elizabeth Sutherland, Mark Thatcher
- Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Ancient Greek
- Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Classical Latin
- Summer Elementary Classical Latin and Ancient Greek
(Elementary Greek teaches Attic Greek, especially Plato; Intermediate continues Attic Greek (Plato) and expands to Homer and prose authors including Lucian and Xenophon. Advanced includes authors such as Thucydides, Herodotus, the Greek tragedians, and Homer. Elementary teaches Classical Latin; Intermediate continues training in reading fluency and grammatical review with authors like Cicero, Ovid, Caesar, and Catullus. Advanced includes authors such as Livy, Sallust, Vergil, and Horace. The summer courses prepare students to enter Intermediate Courses during the year.)
Reading Groups
Faculty: Sarah Byers, Gary Gurtler, Marina McCoy, Jean-Luc Solere and Eileen Sweeney, Debra De Chiara-Quenzer
Sometimes hosts reading groups on Aristotle or Plato.
Faculty: Bob Bartlett, Paul Wilford
Often has a graduate group with a facilitator (Amy Nendza) reading Greek texts such as Aristotle, Thucydides, and Aristophanes.