The Sattler College Podcast

"Greek Never Died"

• Sattler College • Episode 16

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In this episode, Jose Diaz, a PhD student in Greek New Testament studies at Andrews University and new faculty member at Sattler College, shares his journey from Mexico to the U.S., his passion for teaching biblical Greek, and how he uses second language acquisition methods to make Greek a living language for students. He also discusses the debate over Greek pronunciation, using props to teach the Lord’s Prayer, and his philosophy on blending academic rigor with personal devotion. Jose offers practical tips on how to start studying Greek and keep it as a lifelong habit, no matter where you are in your journey.

Learn more about studying Biblical and Religious Studies at Sattler.

Mentioned in this episode:

Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction and Welcome
0:28 – Jose’s Background and Educational Journey
3:59 – Passion for Greek and Spiritual Connection
11:01 – Approaching Greek Pedagogy: Combining Heart and Mind
16:50 – The Lord’s Prayer in Greek: Demonstration and Explanation
24:10 – Transitioning to Modern Greek Pronunciation
32:00 – Jose’s Perspective on Learning Greek as a Living Language
39:20 – Advice for Starting and Sustaining Greek Study
47:00 – Sattler College Open House and Closing Remarks

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Zack Johnson:

It is September 12th, 2024, and I'm here with the one and only Jose Diaz. Jose, thank you for taking the time to be part of the podcast with me. Thank you for the invitation, right? So, jose, how long have you been in Boston?

Jose Diaz:

Well, we moved. Our moving day was August 13th, so uh, about three weeks.

Zack Johnson:

Yeah, so I was. I'm joking that we decided to film right in the sunlight to give people a little bit of a view of the city that you just moved to. But I'm gonna read your bio. That's on our website and okay, they're in the middle of that. Feel free to correct or subtract anything from it, and then we can just jump right into what we're going to talk about. But first, just for our viewers, who people are watching, what are these things in front of us?

Jose Diaz:

Well, what we have here is some of the props that I use for the Lord's Prayer. We are learning the Lord's Prayer and one of the best ways is to engage with props, so perhaps at the end or sometime, I could pray in Greek and show you how I use these props. Okay, that students are going to eventually use them as they learn the Lord's Prayer. Some students are starting to lead the prayer already in Greek.

Zack Johnson:

Right, and then I'm assuming that this is evil, this dragon.

Jose Diaz:

Yes, the evil one. Yes, he represents the evil one. Yeah, I got it.

Zack Johnson:

That makes sense to me, all right. Jose S Diaz is a PhD student specializing in Greek New Testament, with a minor in Hebrew Bible at Andrews University. He holds an MA in pastoral ministry from Andrews University, an MSED in education with a concentration in English as a second language and bilingual education from Northern Illinois University, an MDiv equivalency from Andrews University and a BA in theology from Monte Morelos University in Mexico. In 2023, he started a YouTube channel called A Plus Lingua to help students internalize the Greek scripture through songs. Anything to add or subtract? Was that accurate? No, that's basically it. All right. So you've got a lot of schooling. And then mr diaz's interests include infusing second language acquisition methodology into greek pedagogy, greek exegesis, greek discourse analysis and new testament backgrounds by visiting archaeological sites that aid in the understanding of the scriptures, greece, etc. He's been teaching Greek communicatively for the past three years, serving undergraduate and graduate students. He wants to help church members locally and globally to anchor themselves in the scriptures and become lifelong readers of the Greek scriptures.

Zack Johnson:

All right, jose, welcome here. Thank you so much. All right, thank you for having me, absolutely so. The obvious question is when I read your bio. All right, jose, welcome here. Thank you so much, all right, thank you for having me, absolutely so. The obvious question is when I read your bio, the most repeated word is Greek. Yes, greek, greek, greek. And you're wearing a t-shirt that says Friends of Greek, friends of Greek.

Jose Diaz:

And then it says yes, and Matthew 19, 36. Parateo Panta Dunata, yes, parateo Panta Dinata.

Zack Johnson:

Dinata, yes, and Matthew 19, 36. So I think it's safe to say that you have some sort of passion for Greek. That's correct. I'd love to just ask you to tell me about your passion and then share where on earth did you develop it and why are you so passionate about sharing it with others?

Jose Diaz:

Yes, so my journey with Greek has been for several years. In 96, I took my first Greek class in 1996 when I was doing my undergrad. First two semesters were not as I would like someone to study Greek, but then my passion started in my third semester of Greek. But then I did not follow that. I did not follow theology as my professional in my professional life, meaning I did not find employment in that area. So I entered into the educational field. That's when I got a master's in education, but still my first love with the scriptures was still there.

Jose Diaz:

Even though I worked for more than 18 years in education, I wanted to do something with the biblical languages. So that's when I started building so I could go back and get a PhD specifically in the Greek New Testament and get a PhD specifically in the Greek New Testament. So it was a long journey. We moved to Bering Springs, michigan, where Andrews University is located. We moved in 2013, but I did not get to start the program until 2021. So about eight years of building and building, and building. So it took me all these years. In the meantime I was doing things with Greek. I led a grow groups developing speaking abilities in Greek. So that was for all these years, until I started a PhD in 2021.

Zack Johnson:

Okay, yes, and I'm guessing that your Greek is motivated beyond academics, that there's something spiritual about it. I'll share a story. When you were here last semester interviewing, you, pulled out a journal to show all of our students. You might have it right in front of you. And so it's. It's something more than academic. Tell me, tell me a little bit about how it connects to the scriptures through your relationship with God, your understanding of truth. All these, all these big, big things yes.

Jose Diaz:

So with the, I started experimenting with the journals. These journals were released in 2017, the Greek Scripture Journal, and I have my. This was the first one that I finished completely the whole Gospel of John. Okay, completely the whole gospel of John. So Dr Daniel Wallace, who is an expert in Greek and textual criticism from Dallas Theological Seminary, developed an idea, developed a study guide. So I followed the study guide and so I connected this with the Greek scripture journal, the idea or the question I always. Well, let me go back a little bit.

Jose Diaz:

One of the main concerns I have is that students, after studying Greek for two years or two semesters, one year, two years or even more, there are studies. I'm not sure if these are official studies, but I have read some studies that claim that only one to three percent of students continue with their Greek studies, and students are always asking so, what do I do next? What do I do next? So it's always this question. So I was in a quest, looking for a possible answer to that question, like what do I do next after I finish a year or two years or three years, whatever? What do I do next? So I came to these journals and I started, you know, journaling on a daily basis. I started journaling on a daily basis so, instead of reading the Bible or reading my Bible in English, I started reading my Bible in Greek. So I have been doing this practice, or have been practicing 20, 30 minutes an hour whenever I have more time. So I always tell students that you could start with a verse a day, even half a verse if it takes you a long time, but slowly you will. Students will start experiencing that you know. The more they read, the the faster you will get. You're building on your knowledge. So that's what I have been doing. I'm I'm currently finishing one which is from writing from Paul. This is Philippians and I am so happy to say that I only need to finish the last page and I will be done with the letter to the Philippians. I have been doing this for a couple of months already.

Jose Diaz:

So this is. I see this as a lifelong journey. Nobody's telling me like how fast I should go, how slow. No, I just. I have taken this as a lifelong journey and my dream is that students also are able to take this path, to be able to fall in love with the scriptures. And if they are already in love with the scriptures. Well, now they take Greek one semester, my students who are in the first semester. They are reading the first verse in Greek. We are starting with the Gospel of John, which is how Daniel Wallace developed this reading guide. You start with the Gospel of John, then you go to 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, then the book of Revelation, and so on and so forth, going from easy books to more challenging books, more challenging readings in Greek.

Zack Johnson:

So the Gospel of John, and 1st John in particular, is one of the easier books of the Gospel in Greek. And then what? In your opinion, what's one of the most challenging? I have two guesses. My guesses are Hebrews or Revelation, but I don't.

Jose Diaz:

No, revelation is early on, so after the first three letters of John, revelation is next. So I have finished those. I have gone through those already, but the most challenging. I have gone through those already, but the most challenging, according to Daniel Wallace and the reading guide, is Hebrews is last, and before that, 2 Peter, 2 Peter, yes, okay, In terms of difficulty, Difficulty in terms of vocabulary and syntax grammar, yeah, and syntax grammar yeah.

Jose Diaz:

So that's how my studies took me to engage with the book of Hebrews already. So I finished journaling on the book of Hebrews because I took a class I actually have taken two classes on the interpretation of the book of Hebrews and my dissertation will go in that direction in the book of Hebrews.

Zack Johnson:

And then one of the things I always talk about at Sattler is that we're the only college in the US that makes all of our undergrads take, we allow them the opportunity to take biblical Greek and biblical Hebrew. It's the requirement is only two semesters of Greek, two semesters of Hebrew. But this is computer scientists, biology students, business students, history students and biblical and religious studies students. The one that would make sense is the biblical and religious studies students. So why, if you have a student in the room at the Sattler who is maybe pursuing a Bachelor of Science business, biology, computer science how do you make it compelling for them to invest themselves in Greek when you would think that they're just? I have to do this. Have you thought?

Jose Diaz:

about that at all. Yes, I have thought a lot about before coming to Sadler. I presented when I visited Sadler for the first time, back in April, I remember. So I have been thinking. I have been doing a lot of thinking because, perhaps for the first time, we are combining two things, and I think about this all the time. We are combining academics and we are also combining the spiritual part. So how do you go about this? And I pray every day that the Lord grants me the wisdom to be able to combine these two things, especially for those who will not spend their lives dealing with the scriptures, who are the BRS students, but the other students who came to a Christian school. My goal is to anchor them in the Scriptures. So I talked to them, for I took some time in class today to talk to them about this, because they apparently it's not too clear.

Zack Johnson:

You you know that that's the final goal and when people, when I talk about sattler to some of my acquaintances I came from a, my my undergrad and my master's degree are secular, from secular institutions and they say, oh you're, you're a bible school or that's the first thing that comes to mind and and so it's very important to say no, that actually, at the beginning the communicative approaches is a little bit foreign to some people. Do you mind doing a demonstration? I think you're ready to do the Lord's Prayer, is that right? Is that a good idea? Yeah, can I all stand up here and get a better angle? And feel free to stand up as well if that's something that you want to do here. All right, I'm here with Professor Diaz and we're going to do a demonstration of the Lord's Prayer here, all right.

Jose Diaz:

So I will pray in Greek. This is based on Matthew, chapter 6, verses 9 to 13. Oentis uranis ayastito to ono masu el ceto I vasiliasu genitito toteli masu osen urano ke epigis Ton arton, imon ton epiusion dos imin simeron Ke afe, simin ta ofilimata imon oske imis afikamen tis ofiletes, imon Ke mi isenenkis imas ispiras mon ala rise imas apotu oniru. So the last part simply says in the name of Jesus, because that's how Jesus taught us to pray, but it's not part of the verses. But I just add that to conclude the prayer.

Zack Johnson:

Right? And why do you avoid for years the kingdom and the power and the glory forever?

Jose Diaz:

Yes, the reason I. I mean when we study textual criticism or text analysis as others call it, but when we deal with the most ancient manuscripts, we have the opportunity to work with papyrus and the most ancient text that we have the opportunity to work with papyrus and the most ancient texts that we have available and it is not in there the last part for dying is the kingdom, and so on and so forth. Nevertheless, I mean we can find that in the book of Revelation, because when we go to the book of Revelation there is a lot of praise, a lot of adoration. So those of us who engage with the biblical text in the original languages all the time, we always wonder if we should include those that were added later in later manuscripts. So I prefer not to include things that were added later in later manuscripts from the 10th 12th century. With textual critical tools that we have available, we always try to go back to the most ancient that we have available.

Zack Johnson:

Yeah, I understand. I'm familiar with sort of the Byzantine versus other text, other text, but I know enough Greek that I know that that last line was. I think it's a very powerful line as well.

Jose Diaz:

Yes, it is. I mean it is, as I said, we can find it definitely in the Book of Revelation, because there's a lot of praise there.

Zack Johnson:

Right, and so the idea I know that I've talked to Dr Schumann about this a lot, who is sort of teaching communicatively in Hebrew In the classroom what we just saw, for those of you listening, is a lot of props, visual cues, total physical response. And so tell me a little bit about why you've chosen this response, this approach to teaching, over, I guess, the other approaches, the grammar, sort of a grammar-based approach to Greek and to learning languages. I know you're passionate about it.

Jose Diaz:

It is interesting because I will be presenting this year in San Diego, California, at ETS. What does ETS?

Zack Johnson:

stand for.

Jose Diaz:

ETS Evangelical Theological Society. And then what's the other? Sbl? Sbl stands for the Society of Biblical Literature, so every year, scholars and aspiring scholars, students, phd students gather in different parts.

Jose Diaz:

I know that in 2025, it will be here in Boston, so I look forward to that. You're getting ready to not have to travel. For the first time, I will not have to travel far. Who's hosting it in Boston? I am not sure. We don't have those details yet. These details come out as it approaches. Now we know that it will be in San Diego and things are getting prepared. Maybe Sadler should host it. Oh, that would be great. Yes, but keep in mind that it's like thousands of people that come. Oh, never mind, it is way, way. So this is probably the biggest, the biggest, how you call this convention center in here. That's probably where it will take place. Got it so? Because usually we are talking by the thousands, people from all over the country and from all over the world as well.

Jose Diaz:

But I will be presenting on that specific topic, so I will talk about my journey and what I have learned coming from the grammar translation, moving to the what I call a balanced approach 50-50, and now more into 90-10. So the practice here is 90-10, meaning 90% of the class takes place in Greek. That's the goal. That's the goal, sometimes more or less 85, 80, 90. The goal is always 90. And then 10% in Greek.

Jose Diaz:

So general instructions are in sorry, 10% in English.

Jose Diaz:

So the general instructions are, general directions are given in English, and then we enter into the Greek, so everything is done in Greek, and then I always leave some time at the end for debriefing. So if there was something that I said that it was not too clear, even though I used the prompts, even though I use movements as part of TPR. So my approach is use several like pictures is use several like pictures, prompts, also TPR and others such as echo reading, choral reading and so on and so forth in the classroom questions and answers. So I use a text base, so we use actually the Greek New Testament, I use a book with pictures, the Greek New Testament, I use a book with pictures and so yeah, so that's basically my journey in a nutshell coming from a grammar translation approach, now middle ground, half of grammar and translation, half of the enjoyment of using things, props and things like that, and then now coming into a more immersive environment, getting close to a full immersion, which would be 100%, but we are 90-10. That's what we are doing right now.

Zack Johnson:

Yeah, and then I know, just because I feel like you're so passionate about, about Greek, and that's what you teach here. We also made a. In the first day of class, I made the announcement that we're switching to the modern pronunciation per that. Then that was strictly tied to your, your arrival at Sattler and, and so I'd love to just hear your thoughts on what are the different options for pronouncing Koine Greek that people have available, and why have you landed on modern? And yeah, maybe I'll ask some follow-up questions.

Jose Diaz:

Yes. So the same thing, like my journey with coming from a grammar translation approach, grammar translation method, gtm as it is called, or known grammar translation method the same thing. My journey has been always looking, always researching, reading and learning. So I started with the Erasmian pronunciation. The Erasmian pronunciation is widely used in seminars and Bible colleges, but what I found is that people who use that pronunciation do not use a lot of Greek in class, meaning they just talk about Greek but they don't speak the language. So that was the main difference that I started going from the Erasmus pronunciation, going into middle ground. I thought it was middle ground, but it's more towards modern Greek, which we call the Reconstructed Pronunciation promoted by Randall Booth, the founder I'm not sure if he's still the president, but the founder of the Biblical Language Center in Israel. So he promotes what he calls a reconstructed pronunciation. Some people call it BLC pronunciation it's the same thing. Others call it first century pronunciation. So he believes he reconstructed the pronunciation. So he believes he reconstructed the pronunciation. So he started teaching that pronunciation, which I used to call middle ground. So my journey took me to that. I started taking classes with BLC Biblical Language Center, with Biblingo as well. Conversation of Kini or Koine Institute, so to be able to speak more Greek, not just talk about Greek with charts and things like that. You know paradigms, but actually use those paradigms, have them here and be able to use them in the classroom.

Jose Diaz:

So then, once I was in that middle ground, I kept reading and one of the books that helped me was a Chris Karagounis book. Dr Karagounis, his book is called the Development of New Testament Greek. About 850 pages book. I read it all and after that I kept you know. I kept asking why, why? So I ended up joining the 14 million speakers of Greek because every week they read the scriptures in this pronunciation. So there are several advantages why I decided to move into modern Greek, for instance. One of them is that I have 14 million potential people I could ask to help me with my pronunciation and I have found that very comforting because I have friends from Greece. I actually have friends from Greece that when I get stuck I ask them. The second thing is that we have something that we call Google Translate. Some people don't like and don't feel comfortable with Google Translate, but I tell students, when you get stuck, you don't know how to pronounce it, just type it and Google Translate will tell you it will give you the modern.

Jose Diaz:

Yes, it gives you the modern Greek pronunciation.

Zack Johnson:

And then I'm assuming have you been to Greece yet? Yes, and I'm assuming, when you walk around Greece, have you been able to communicate natively with people, give or take with your language?

Jose Diaz:

Yes. So I was reading once and I need to track down where I read this. It has been a while ago. In my search, as I said, in my quest to try to answer all these questions, I came across an article that says something very interesting. This article said that if you know ancient Greek and biblical Greek or Kini Greek or Koine Greek, falls into this umbrella, the big umbrella of ancient Greek. So when I read that article, it said that if you know ancient Greek, you would be able to understand up to 40% of modern Greek. So that got my attention. I shared it with my advanced Greek professor and she said that perhaps perhaps 30 percent. So but I it's still very, it's still comforting to be able to know that all this ancient Greek that I know, I would be able to use it.

Jose Diaz:

So when I traveled to Greece in 20 I believe it was 2022, if I recall correctly, yeah, 2022 I traveled to Greece and I was able to engage. I was preparing ahead of time phrases that could help me survive. So, for instance, I would say and that will give you an idea what I was talking about when is the restroom? It's very important to survive in Greece. The restroom food, yeah, so I learned phrases so I could survive in Greece. The restroom food yeah, so I learned phrases so I could survive in Greece. But what I noticed is that when people were speaking, I was able to track not everything, but I was able to get just a gist of what they were saying, just because I had decided to move into the Greek, modern Greek pronunciation, or, you know, as the Greeks pronounce it.

Zack Johnson:

Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And then I just I guess I won't ask a ton of more questions about Greek, because my guess is people who are listening might have already. They're like how long can you talk about Greek? Oh, I could talk forever. And then people probably have noticed Jose, you're from Mexico, yes, and so your first language is Spanish. That's correct, an advantage in the language and the pronunciation. Or are you sort of agnostic as to how your own background has shaped, how you teach, how you can teach greek and also sort of give you the tool to, like, make your way around greek? Is greek closer to spanish english? I?

Jose Diaz:

I know that it's kind of there's not a true right answer to this, but yes, Well, yes, so, as you said, my first language was, or is, spanish, and I say was because I have been living here in the US more. Yeah, I mean, most of my life has been here. I arrived when I was 15 years old, so if you make the math you will probably guess, but I have been living here for many, many. I mean, I became US citizen in 2011. But, yes, so Spanish English was my second language. I went to high school in California. North Hollywood High School is my high school. So, yeah, if you're watching.

Zack Johnson:

if you are from North Hollywood, You'll have to share it. Once it comes out, you'll have to share it.

Jose Diaz:

Yes. So North Hollywood High School, go Huskies, if you know what that means. You know Huskies was our, you know the mascot. So yes, I learned English as a second language. What is interesting is I learned English as a second language but later I was trained In my master's in education. I was trained in second language acquisition how to teach students who are coming from other countries taking you know English as a second language. So I was able, I worked, that was my career, was done in second language acquisition, bilingual education, transitional bilingual, esl, dual language education all these areas that deal with language. So definitely it shaped how I see language teaching and this is not. This is also a language.

Jose Diaz:

Some people have claimed that we are studying a dead language. Let me make a correction if our viewers have heard this. When I was reading Chris Caragouni's book, dr Caragouni claims that Greek never died and I thought about it for a long time and it makes sense, because we don't have daughters of Greek. Like Latin, latin died and we have daughters. Spanish is a daughter of Latin, italian, portuguese, daughters of Latin, but not Greek, because Greek never died. What happened with Greek? Was it evolved?

Zack Johnson:

That's probably going to be the title of this episode Greek Never Died. Oh, yes, I think it's actually. I love that, yes, Greek.

Jose Diaz:

Never Died, and that's why I have decided to treat Greek as a living language, even though we are studying as part of the ancient part of the language. But Greek never died. So I'm able to connect. Currently learning classical Greek or Attic Greek is also known, because now, if we take this idea, then we recognize that we are on the fifth phase of Greek, which is modern Greek, but Greek never died. So that's why I treat Greek as a language and so, yeah, no, that makes sense.

Zack Johnson:

And then I think I'll bring up that last week I did a little bit of an interview with an alumni from Sattler's first class and I asked this was a BRS or a biblical and religious student? This was a BRS or a biblical and religious student. I asked if he still uses the languages and was encouraged that every single day he opens his Greek and his Hebrew and his personal devotions, and I was so happy to hear that. Villa, the founder of Sattler, we talked to this idea about the compounding interest, of investing yourself in tools that will bring you closer to the scriptures, and so a lot of people understand this idea of compounding interest with money.

Zack Johnson:

But the two things required to make compounding interest work for you Einstein called it the eighth wonder of the world is basically time. The earlier you start, the better, and then just patience, and the two are very, very related Start earlier and then keep going Maybe discipline would be another way of phrasing that and so and so, when you think about just how you think about young people and how it can make their life more alive, how would you recommend that people start with greek? Just, some people won't have opportunities to come to the college and think about that. But what's a good place to start, if you're interested in kind of dipping your feet into learning Greek, and then not only starting, but what are some habits that you've developed that you can recommend to keep the language alive? Because Greek never died and hopefully it never will?

Jose Diaz:

Yes, yes. So a great question. So first, I agree and time is very important. I was just sharing with students today and during class that you start with five minutes. If you put in five minutes, I am assuming that students and I said I'm going to assume that you already spend some time with the scriptures every day as a Christian. As a Christian, if you are not, then well, this is your chance to spend five minutes. Start with five minutes. Start, you know, with something real.

Jose Diaz:

I think everybody can spend five minutes with the scriptures, and then it will turn out to be 10 minutes, then 20, then 30 minutes, then an hour will not be enough. But you know, since we have other responsibilities, sometimes I spend 30 minutes, 40 minutes, and now it depends, it depends on the time. On the weekends I get to spend more time with the scriptures, you know, an hour or so, but every day, nobody should be checking how much time you are spending with the scriptures. This is your personal devotional, your devotional time with the Lord, your time with God in his scriptures. So that's what I suggest Start small, start, you know, with five minutes. Now get up five minutes earlier and pray and read five minutes and then double it and you will need more. You will see that five minutes is not enough.

Zack Johnson:

Then you will start asking or looking for more opportunities to spend more time with God's Word when I started my first Greek experience, I remember being so excited about the freshness of being able to encounter the scriptures in a new way, and I think that's really important. I hear that with a lot of people that I interact with when I'm part of a church group who asks how's your Bible reading going? And repeatedly people will say something like it's a little stale. I'm on autopilot and I think the biblical languages actually allow freshness, some sort of freshness, and it doesn't have to be an academic intensity. It can be, for certain, if you get far. But I've experienced that Like hey, what if today I'm just going to look up the passage and read one verse in Greek and see if it's anything. That's it, and it's exciting, isn't it? It's like you're exploring another dimension of the Scriptures. Some people call it like color versus black and white TV. There are different analog TV. Yes, different analogies.

Jose Diaz:

Yes, so start with your favorite Bible, your favorite verse. You know John 3, 16. I started like that first and I have a T-shirt with John 3, 16. That was one of my. That was the first, and I was as I was reading word by word, I was enjoying it, and there is actually a song that the Lord inspired me to compose. So it is on our YouTube channel, A Plus Lingua, our YouTube channel. It is there. It will be one of the songs we will learn in the class. That's spelled out.

Zack Johnson:

A-P-L-U-S space L-I-N-G-U-A.

Jose Diaz:

Yes, l, this lingua is Latin. You know, when I was taking my Latin course, I developed the channel so I said, okay, I'm just going to throw in there a little bit of Latin, but lingua is Latin. That means tongue or language. So A plus language, you know, in a sense, a plus lingua. L-i-n-g-u-a, that's right, that's great. So, yes, definitely.

Jose Diaz:

And I mean those of if you are watching this video and you are thinking, should I go to Sandler or not? Come to Sandler, yes, come to Sandler, but I understand that not everybody will be able to come to Sandler Then there are other options. So I already mentioned BLC. What's that stand for? It stands for Biblical Language Center. If you Google Biblical Language Center, you will see it. They have resources, you can study on your own and they also have classes online via Zoom. And also Biblingo. Biblingo is another great company that has started, you know, with the communicative approach as well, and they have class online. So you study on your own or you take a class with someone and follow the curriculum they have. So those are probably the best.

Jose Diaz:

And also, of course, I cannot forget Glossa House that I have worked and I'm working to release a book sometime in the future with Glossa House. So Dr Tapes and I are working together, creating and working on this book, slowly testing it, testing it with students and so on and so forth. Until we think it's ready, it will be released with Glossa House. They have great materials. They have for both the communicative approach and for the traditional grammar translation approach. So, yeah, so those are out there, available. You have to invest. So same thing. You have to invest, as you say, as you mentioned before time resources. You invest in your walk with the Lord. So this would be a great investment. Engaging with, with the biblical languages, in my case, greek, but I have also engaged with Hebrew. My Hebrew is not as strong as my Greek because, you know, for obvious reasons, I have been majoring in Greek. You have to choose one or the other.

Zack Johnson:

Yes, well, and then, before we end, is anything else you wanted to to talk about? Mention that that you that I didn't ask. I know we focused a lot in on greek, but there is there any other sort of piece of advice, that or resource that you like to share with people in an interview?

Jose Diaz:

well, I um. Going back to the, to the scriptures, um, I already said, if you are already studying Greek, well, your next step will be with the Greek scripture journal. But going back to what you mentioned about the question, how is your reading of the scriptures? So I would like to invite all viewers. It doesn't matter if you are not studying Greek. We always have an appointment with our Lord, with our Savior, with our God, always. So let's start. As I said, let's start again. There's always this opportunity to start again. Start with five minutes.

Jose Diaz:

I know there is a professor, a graduate from Harvard University, who developed a series of books. They are called Two Minutes a Day. So two minutes of Greek every day. Two minutes of Hebrew every day, two minutes of Latin no, aramaic, not Latin. I don't think he has released the Latin, so he thinks about two minutes. When I read the one page that is supposed to be two minutes, it took me more than two minutes. So I would say start with five minutes and you will find out that it's not enough. Then you will want more, you want to spend more time. So pray, read and pray, read and pray. So that's how I would like to end up this conversation, to be able to start again with the scriptures. No matter where you are in your journey, you can start again and spend time with the Lord in prayer and in the reading of the scriptures.

Zack Johnson:

Yeah, amen, and I just want to say that I know it's hard to think about this, but there's not a right age. Even if you're old, it's possible to start, and I think from a college perspective that's actually our vision is to actually create a demand where more and more young people are excited about the scriptures. I think that it will pay dividends to have more young people who are able to rightly handle the word of God and are spending that time daily and that at the end of their life that just compounds into a tremendous relationship with God. And I wanted to take a little bit of time, if you'll let me so at the end.

Zack Johnson:

If you are interested in Sattler, there's an open house October 18th through the 19th 2024. That'll be right here in our campus and I think part of that would be able to. You'd probably get to see your classroom, live a little bit and meet some of the students, and so please, if you haven't been made aware of that, come to the open house. Thank you so much, jose, for being here with me, and then I'm going to take the opportunity to film out the window really quick, just to sort of attract students. So, if you didn't know, this is our first time filming, but Sattler sits on this really interesting view of the Charles River right here, and did you know this? So on this side of the river is Boston and then on that side of the river is Cambridge. So right back there you can see MIT and Harvard, and then come over to this side and then that's the state house right there. Jose, do you know if that's real gold or fake gold? I don't know.

Jose Diaz:

Maybe real All right?

Zack Johnson:

Well, if you don't know, come to Open House to find out. That's good.