About
In many and various ways God spoke to His People of old by the Prophets. They recorded their writings in the Hebrew language. After Hellenization, the lingua franca of the day changed to Greek, and so the New Testament was recorded in that language. With the rise of the Roman Empire, Latin grew and became the language of the Church in the West. For well over a thousand years all theology was discussed and written in Latin. With the advent of the Reformation in the 1500s, German became widely used alongside Latin as the language of the Evangelical Doctrine. Many theologians recognize the importance of studying the Biblical languages, Greek and Hebrew. So much nuance and various shades of meaning hide in the original languages and remain lost in translation. The same is true of the Theological Languages. A better understanding of Latin and German helps to bring these deeper meanings to light. Not only that, there are still many works left untranslated into English and thus inaccessible to many. Knowledge of these venerable languages is the key that opens the door to the past and sheds light on the future.
How does it work?
The classes are structured around four touchstones.
You’ll take time each week to interact with each touchstone. You might spend longer on one or two of them than on others, depending on how much time you individually need.
The first touchstone is the instructional videos. These videos introduce all new material, both grammar and vocabulary. They’re delivered in a video format so that you can watch them in your own time, on your own schedule. Set aside some time each week to take in the new material. If you need to pause the video to write down your notes or if you need to rewind it to hear something again, you can.
The second touchstone is the online class meeting, where everyone taking the course with you meets together. We will work on the weekly practice translations and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, review grammar and vocabulary material, and discuss in more depth the topics covered in the the first touchstone, the videos.
The third touchstone is the small group sessions. In groups, you'll join others to translate material you come into contact with every week through the Church's liturgy, hymnody, lectionary, and more. By Sunday, when you're hearing and singing the liturgy and hymns of the Church in English, you'll have gained a deeper knowledge and appreciation for them by having translated them.
The fourth and final touchstone is… YOU! You’ll take time each week to review grammar topics and memorize the vocab, which is an important part of learning any language and it’s something that can only be done by you.
This course is designed for you to engage in and actually use the language alongside others. By interacting with each of these four touchstones weekly and spending time with each of them, you’ll pick it up naturally and quickly. I look forward to you joining our team as you embark on discovering the treasures of a new language!
Meet Your Instructor
Rev. Kyle Everett Brown has a deep love of languages. He has his Bachelor of Arts in Germanic Languages from Indiana University, Fort Wayne, where he had the opportunity to study an array of additional languages, including classical Latin. He studied medieval Latin and German at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He then pursued his Master of Divinity at Concordia Theological Seminary. It was during this time that he also studied theology at the Lutherische Theologische Hochschule in Oberursel, Germany. He now serves as pastor of two wonderful congregations in New Mexico. And most importantly, he has the honor of being husband to his beautiful wife and father to two ornery little boys and brand new baby girl.