>> Dr. Wahby: Well, it's my pleasure to welcome you to this session 2:00 on Friday, session of the Ancient Greece Symposium,A Futuristic Look Through Ancient Lenses, and you can go as far back as you like and you find interesting things that are past, but in ancient Greece you find things that are past and present, and maybe even future, depending on how we use them. Greek is all Greek to me, and maybe to many of us as a language, wonder you are in for a surprise today. It is for today and tomorrow maybe. It shapes our today and tomorrow and I am anxious to see how our distinguished speaker will tell us this. It is very easy and very hard to present your friend and your pastor; he is a moving encyclopedia with a sense of humor, if you know what I mean. You will get this right away. And he is never boring, to me at least, and to the children at church, and to the men and women as well. I don't know how he does this, but I know it is a gift from God. And if I go to the list here, quote, unquote, on his qualifications, he is Professor of Church history, but meet the man. That is the best thing. Ok. Good. >> Dr. Adrian Lamkin: Thank you. >> Dr. Wahby: Thank you very much. >>Dr. Lamkin: Thank you, Wafeek, yes. [Applause] I want to thank Dr. Wahby for inviting me to participate in this. Most of your speakers and presenters have been resident here on campus. Perhaps all, except for me. So, I appreciate having the opportunity to be a part of the Eastern Community, and share with you this afternoon. And thanks for being faithful to come out on a Friday afternoon. There may be many challenges that you could have encountered or other things that could have been a part of your life this afternoon, but I am grateful that you came to participate with us. The first thing I think I am going to tell you, is I am going to sit down. If that's ok. I'm going to do that. Oh wow, nice chair. All right. I have not had an opportunity to visit with many other presenters that you have had in this symposium. I am very delighted though, that you have had this, because it challenges us to be aware in this particular context of what the Greeks have meant to us even today in a variety of ways. I come out of a background of church history. I've taught at colleges, and even one divinity school, and now I am enjoying the opportunity of practicing some of that out in pastoral ministry. But on this particular day, what I want to do is dare to move into the field of Greek language a little bit. I am not an expert on the Greek language. Let's just say those times I've dealt with the Greek language in the past, I've tried to stay about five minutes ahead of my students, whenever it came to that, because of the various aspects of the language. But if you are here with a history background, I wanted to help us be refreshed a little bit in understanding or hearing again, some of the ways by which the Greek language has moved through history to have an impact today. In this symposium, and this series of speakers, you have become more aware of the vast impact of the Greek culture, Greek life, Greek literature, Greek art, all of that upon the world. You may want to ask though, why is it that this language, the Greek language has an impact today. Weren't there other languages that had the possibility of being even more dominant? Why is it that this particular language that came from a very small part of the world, why was is it that this language would move through history and come down and have an impact on today? So I want to just present a little of that with you today, and refresh your memory, if some of you has an opportunity to look through this. For those of you who studied languages, you know that the Greek language developed as all languages did, over quite a period of time. And when you look at Greece, there were a variety of dialects. It wasn't initially just a one monolithic dialect. They did come together over some time, to come into what eventually came two basic strands. I think we can agree, a classic strand, and a kind of common strand often known as Koine. The Greek developed over time, eventually to be the language of the folk in the area of Greece. As it developed in its dialects, there were opportunities for Greece, the Greek language to spread beyond just the boundaries of Greece in history. If you are a history student in Greece, you will know that perhaps even back in the 8th Century BC, there were times when the Greeks were expanding. They were sending ships out. There were known as very fine seafarers. These ships were going out into different areas into the Mediterranean, even at that particular time, taking with them already a knowledge of Greek, a knowledge of whatever the language was the Greek language at that point, culture and other aspects. So even early on, there were colonies being established, there was an establishment of some Greek settings in the world around the Mediterranean basin. That was a early as the 8th century BC. Then when you get to the golden age of Greek history, there was another particular time when people were fascinated with what was happening in Greece. What was happening with the language? And that was more around the 5th Century BC. I think Pericles, I believe this would be his particular time. My point here is to simply say, there was a history by which the Greek islands and the Greek area that we would call the Greek Mainland, had an influence that was more widespread than just it's local area. The possibilities of the people knowing the Greek language, Greek culture, were pretty well widespread. So this was happening even before the days of Alexander the Great. So I am going to move rather rapidly to that. For those of you who have been studying Greek History, you know that there was this particular time when Alexander's father Phillip of Macedon, finally came, in conquered whole areas of the land, and he bought into the Greek culture, and his son almost become the epitome of what was going to be seen as Greek life. Alexander and his exploits are well known. With Alexander, what happened was that he then took Greek Life, every place he went. You will then be aware of the fact that as he did this, this process was known throughout the Mediterranean world and even points east, as Hellenization. This is significant because the languages of those people who were conquered did be maintained but they also spread Greek language. It became a common language that was often used throughout all of those areas where alexander conquered. And even after Alexander's death, generals divided up much of the world and their process of continuing Greek culture was maintained through the Greek language that was then spread. So, from the time of Alexander the Great, in the 300's BC, on down to a few centuries later, it was very, very positive to see how the Greek language became very dominant in whole swaths of the world. Not only in the Mediterranean Basin, but in areas east moving over toward as far east as India. So the Greek language, as it was being developed and used and eventually primarily through the common language known as Koine, it was the common language by which many people communicated. [00:08:57;04] This was not true of all other kinds of languages. So at this particular point, I think one thing that is going to be important for us to see, the efforts of alexander the Great then spread the Greek language in ways that you might not have expected otherwise. His adventures, his conquests, meant that Greek was going to be a significant language for quite a time in the whole Mediterranean world. Now when the Romans decided to enter the scene, you might want to assume that the romans would have overwhelmed the Greeks, and then they would have imposed their language upon them. That would be an assumption the conquering nation might wish to impose its language but one fascinating thing about the Romans. The Romans were quite in awe of what they saw out of Greek Life. Greek language was part of that, but Greek culture, Greek Philosophy, Greek religion, they took parts of Greek religion, and just sort of baptized it again with Roman names. They were fascinated with the philosophers, the writers, and all of this was something that meant the Romans seemed to just simply appropriate what was in Greece, because they liked it so much. They were recognizing the fact that Greek was so well known, that is the Koine Greek was so well known, that they were going to have trouble overwhelming that in any case. The area that had been spread around the world, the area that knew Greek, was vast. And so, even though the Romans spoke Latin at this particular point, Greek was something that they assumed, they took it in, they absorbed, and they made that a part of their life. And so just as the Romans conquered the ancient world, they Greek language is not dead. It is still being used, because it is a language of culture, and it is a language that has been used by the Romans as well. It has been said by some, that any learned Roman would know Latin and Greek. And that would be a note in that particular time in that world. But I wanted to move on to another aspect that fits into my own area, a little bit better, and that is the rise of Christianity. When Christianity came on the scene, a lot can be said about the fact that the world was in such a position that it could be spread rather rapidly because of the cultural setting. The peace of Roman meant that it was a possibility for Christianity to be spread rapidly. The language was the possibility, it was there, and to help spread the Christian faith. And indeed, that aspect of the story, is one that I think is very, very important. For in the Christian era, most of you will be aware of the fact that the New Testament, save for a few phrases and words out of the Aramaic, the language of the New Testament is Greek. So those who became familiar with the Christian writings had to encounter them in Greek. I will pause just a second and back up and say there was also something else in as the Christian era unfolded that was rather important to note. There were Jews in the Middle East who liked Hebrew. Their sacred texts were in Hebrew. Most of the Old Testament is Hebrew, not all of it, but there are some Egyptian words, there are some other language words you will find in the Old Testament, but the predominant language in the Old Testament is Hebrew. But because of what had happened back in the 8th Century BC, with the spreading of the trade from Greece, there had been a great Greek center that had developed in Alexandria. You had Greeks' language in the Middle East, and all around the Mediterranean basin and so as things unfolded, there were Jews who then spread around that basin, and then they realized they could not read their sacred texts in Hebrew and so the Old Testament Hebrew was translated into Greek. Many of you will know that that is known as the Septuagint. The Septuagint, there is a tradition that goes with that, but it is based on the idea that there is seventy maybe seventy-two, it was the idea that seventy scholars went in separate rooms, this is one tradition, and I mean we are not, there are several that can be connected with this. Seventy scholars went into separate rooms, translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek, they all came out, and their translations, all 70 of them perfectly agreed, and that's came up with the Septuagint. Well, that's a tradition. I don't know that we want to follow that one very far, but what you have then is the Old Testament text of the Hebrews is now in Greek. So now wherever the Jews are, they basically will understand the Greek Old Testament. The Christian world as it unfolds, it has its New Testament writings are in Greek, and then whenever it makes reference to the Old Testament, it quotes from the Septuagint. The early Christian scholars did not quote from the Hebrew; they most often quoted from the Greek and the Septuagint. Thus, the Greek Old Testament and the Greek New Testament had the bearing of the development of not only Judaism, as it expanded, but primarily with Christianity. As Christians began to write more and more writings, the church fathers, for example of late first century and going into the second century, all of these church fathers wrote in Greek. It's not until you get until the end of the second century that church leaders, Christian leaders are writing in Latin. One phrase that was often said, Latin was considered vulgar. Now that, you could take that various ways, but it was considered a little too common, more than the context of being vulgar, is that it is common, but it just simply wasn't the spiritual language and so there was a disregard for Latin moving into the second century. Christian writings were going to be written in Greek, the New Testament is in Greek, the church fathers are writing in Greek, they are corresponding in Greek, and the Old Testament is in Greek. Now I wanted to press that point with you, because I think from a standpoint of history, in the western European history, and even to a lot degree the eastern history, what happens then when the Roman empire begins to fall to pieces, if you know your history, what is there to take up the gap? One example is going to be Leo the Great. Pope Leo. There's a lot of tradition that is picked up about him, but in the middle of the 5th century, when the Huns looked like they are going to come in and take over Italy, Leo not a Roman, but Leo, the Bishop of Rome, goes out and in some kind of amazing event, as he meets with Attila. he convinces according to church history, Attila that he needs to leave, but the whole point is Leo is given credit for saving Rome, when the Romans could not save Rome. You have after that a particular time where the Christian church then has greater power politically as well as spiritually. And many of you as you studied history, you are well aware of that. As you move into the post-Roman Era, what happens again then as the Christian church begins to dominate. I wanted to lead into the fact then that that means that a language that is going to be of the importance of spreading ideas, church concepts, other kinds of principles, many times that will continue the use of Greek. As long as you have the Christian church, having the advantage that it had, the political power that it was trying to take, and that particular context, the Christian writings which are in Greek, are going to have a greater influence than some other languages. One other thing I wanted to mention, just before I move into another part of this, there is an interesting little side note, to this kind of development, and it is a side note that had some impact upon the way Greek influenced English. And it has to do with the setting in Britain. The Britain’s have been conquered by the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons language was not yet as developed as the Greek. So, as the Anglo-Saxons had come to Britain, they were still in the process of establishing their ways of writing their language. About 590-600 AD Pope Gregory in Rome, interesting story, heard about some individuals who were in Britain. In fact, two young men, as I understand the story, were brought into him, and they were fair haired, blonde, and the whole bit like that, he misunderstood some particular things that particular day, as he met those young men. They identified themselves as Angles, he assumed that that was Angels, and so as he heard more about the interaction which them, he determined that he would send a missionary to those folk in Britain. This was about 600 AD. He sent a fellow named Augustine, now not Augustine of North Africa, St. Augustine, or St. Augustine, but this is Augustine the missionary. He sent him then to Britain. When Augustine, then got to Britain to introduce more Roman Christianity there, he found that there already was an old British Christianity. There already was in place an old British Christianity, primarily on the western side of Britain, and on Ireland. And know you know who that was probably connected to. March of every year that we talk about this man, maybe not in religious terms, he's talked about in some other kinds of terms, up in Champaign, it gets a little interesting at U of I on St. Patrick's unofficial day. But St. Patrick, and others that had been involved with an old British brand of Christianity. They did not necessarily adhere to everything that Rome had taught. They had gone their own way. The Monks acted differently. They went out as missionaries, twelve by twelve, but they also preserved texts. They had at their access, some of the great old texts. They were interested in the great old Greek classics. And so amazingly what they had in store were old ancient texts, many of them were biblical texts, but some of them were classical texts. Now where I am going with this, is that after Augustine the Missionary came, and they codified the religion there in Britain to be in adherence with Rome, you still had your emphasis upon the Greek language, in knowing what church teachings and church doctrine were, it still is going to be spread throughout the British isles, and that is going to be important because very soon, in Northern Europe, there will be invaders who will come down into southern Europe, the Germanic tribes will come, and one of the things that will be wasted away in their paths, will be many of the great libraries and the great storehouses of documents that were in the European continent. Where did Europe restore many of its ancient texts? It came from the missionaries who were sent out from the old British Christian center by largely in Ireland and in Scotland. They went around to the northern part of Europe, coming down and reintroducing to many people, the great Greek classics, and the Greek texts from the bible. And so, what we find here is that Greek has survived in many ways, it has had an influence far beyond what we would expect in those little islands in the eastern part of the Mediterranean. Primarily, I think, because of what Rome did, Rome was more than willing to appropriate Greek language and Greek culture. But I think you've got to add to that what the Christian church did, as the Christian church spread and became dominant in all of Europe even to the point of making sure that everyone felt it was dominate in all of Europe, the Christian texts are going to have an influence on Christian life, secular life as well, and I think that is why as history unfolds, we are going to see how important that is. Now I wanted to turn just a little bit to some areas a little outside my field, but I wanted to share some of what I think would be important to know about the influence then upon Greek on our own English language. One scholar has identified at least 50,000 English words that are derived from Greek. Now that is one scholar's view. Another scholar has said, that 30% of all our vocabulary today is based on Greek. I do not know if that is true, but I am just quoting one scholar, that is how you get out of these things. One scholar has said. So 30% of all our vocabulary is based on Greek. One Greek scholar made this statement, he said according to the Webster International Dictionary the total of the word stock of the English language is 166,000 words. Out of which 41,000 are Greek. That is 1/4 in his estimate. He goes ahead and says that the whole medical terminology in English amounts to 43,000 words, out of which 20,000 are Greek. These figures, with, it seems like some differentiation among them, these figures give us some idea of the great impact of the language of Greek, even upon the way you and I speak, and the way we communicate. It is even pointed out that the words used in the concepts of our thoughts and our expressions today, come out of Greek origin. For those of you who are students you will appreciate this. [00:24:15;17] Analysis. Synthesis. Antithesis. Method. Therapy, you need that after an antithesis, ok. Dogma, diagnosis, these are words in thought and concepts that come out of Greek background. But then words in medicine, and science and education, like mathematics, physics, astronomy, democracy, philosophy, athletics even, theatre, and rhetoric. And words in the church and Judaism, baptism, my background is Baptist, so you understand we try to look at that word quite a bit, evangelist, or evangel, church, itself, ecclesiastical, apostle, even the word monk, prophet, patriarch, hymn, and psalm. There are all some words that we have. Then even talking about the use of grammar, I found this particular statement as someone was talking about how the Greek has influenced the way we deal with grammar. His comment was that even the term grammar was devised fro the Greeks. It means that which pertains to writing, then the grammatical terms and concepts that you and I perhaps remember from our youth, article, noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. All of which I remember from grades school. These are words that come out of a Greek background. So in this particular concept, these words which have a Greek culture, a Greek heritage, a Greek background, all of these have a lively part of the discourse that we are involved with today. There were possibilities that many other languages could have had an impact in the ancient world. But Greek survived and because of the interesting things that happened in history, it became a language that impacts the whole way that you and I communicate this day. Someone has made this comment, one of the fascinating things about the Greek language that allowed it to survive, was that you could, you could work with it's parts. You could have prepositions, you could add something, a prefix, you could add a suffix at the end of the word, and Greek allowed much more than Latin ever did. Greek would allow for new words to be constructed. For you to put together different parts of the words and that created possibilities Greek maintained a livelihood. And thus the Koine the popular language, the people's language. That could continue to develop and continue to speak and continue to be used. Let me make just a few other comments, and then I wanted to open for any kind of discussion. One of the fascinating things for me is that in the history of the church, some of the biggest arguments we have ever gotten over are the meanings of Greek words. And so if you ever did want to read in church history about why certain things were done the way they were, look again to see if there was a Greek word that had something to do with it. One example for many of you, if you are a part of the Christian community, you may go to a church where you say a creed on Sunday morning. One of the creeds that you may be familiar with is the Nicene Creed. So some churches use that on a Sunday-by-Sunday basis. If that were something familiar to you, you would know that around the year 325 after Constantine, the great emperor had identified himself as a Christian, he decided to get involved in a great Christian controversy. And so he was going to try to resolve one of the issues that had come before the Christian church at that time. One of the issues was what kind of substance is God? And so they argued over two words. Homoucian, and Homoeucian. Now you've got to get your mouth straight to say that. Homoucian, and Homoeucian. And they couldn't resolve it until some believe even the emperor himself said which word they were going to use. That's an interesting one. Another interesting thing has come in the church is the nature of Mary. Mary, the mother of Jesus. How should she be defined in history? We had another argument as we were trying to deal with that particular word. Is she the mother of God? Theoticos, or is she the mother of Christ? Christotocos? The church divided on that particular issue on how you would define Mary the mother of Jesus. So in many of the cases, the controversies that welled up in the life of the early Christian church, even those controversies went back in may cases to how you would use the Greek word and which Greek word you would use and that would then tell you how you would deal with some of the issues that would come up. There are other wonderful words here that I won't throw out these particular, I had some other Greek theological terms here, but I don't know that we would really need to get into all of those. I think at this point, what I would like to do is pause, and see where you might like to have a little discussion and probe at those points where you are itching. [Applause] >> Dr. Wahby: Would anybody l like to use the microphone? >> Dr. Lamkin: Yes, ok, yes. >> Dr. Wahby: We thank our speaker for this part, I am not sure if he has more to say, if you have any questions, this is your time. I have a question, those two terms that you just mentioned, that you have to, can you give us a meaning of the difference between this and that. >> Dr. Lamkin: Yes, I thought somebody would do that. It has to do with, they are very similar words, it talks about are you of similar substance or of like substance. It wants to know the substance that is that of Christ, are you of like substance, or of similar substance. It has to do with substancea, and this is a different kind of word here, and it has to do with just a variation in meaning. Like and similar. >> Dr. Wahby: Back again to the English language, like and similar are used interchangeably in our days, but not in that day. >> Dr. Lamkin: No, not in that particular day. >> Dr. Wahby: Like and similar. >> Dr. Lamkin: Exactly. Similar is very close, similar is not quite as much like. >> Dr. Wahby: Thank you. Yes, >> Dr.: Well, I guess just to carry that thought a little further, so it wasn't debated in Nicaea, and then I don't want to get too historical here, I know that they were responding in part to bishop areas, but the idea that the ultimate decision at Nicaea was that Christ and God and the Holy Spirit were of the same substance essentially, and areas had said, No, Christ was the son of God, then as the son of God, he had to come after God, God had created him, or there was a separation which was denied by the Holy [unclear dialogue] >> Dr. Lamkin: Yes, that is exactly right. There was the point in that particular thing that we are trying to resolve, Arias, who was a bishop had tried to say that Jesus was the son, and therefore he was separate from, and they wanted, he wanted to press that, and many people thought that that was logical. But that did not go well, I think with the bishops especially around Constantinople, and that's where the power was at that particular moment. Yes. >> Dr. Wahby: The bible was written in the Greek language mostly in the New Testament. >> Dr. Lamkin: Yes, the new testament, yeah. All of the new testament is in different, there is some classical Greek parts within it, primarily it's Koine Greek, which was the more popular language there are Aramisms, Aramaic was the language that was spoken by the people of Palestine, it was a language that was come from Babylon when they were in captivity in the 5th Century BC, so they spoke Aramaic but they wrote the New Testament in Greek, primarily it was Koine, a common language of the people, which some classical phrases. Luke, Luke's gospel has some more classical Greek phrases. John we could talk about, John's Gospel is addressed basically to a Greek culture. For many of you who have read the New Testament the Christian New Testament and you've read in John, you've probably wondered what in the world is he after as he starts his gospel, it looks so different from every other thing. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And you are thinking, "What in the world is he doing here?" It's obviously at least I think to biblical scholars, he is trying to address a Greek audience. He is trying to draw in the Greek audience and there is a concept in Greek, we've talked a little bit about this before, but the Logos, theology, the word, and what that meant, and I think John was trying to appropriate a concept a kind of a philosophical concept of dealing with Logos and wanted to let the world, the Greek world know, aha, you have this concept Jesus the Christ in his view fits that understanding. So in the beginning there was this powerful word, this Logos and this powerful word was with God, and lo and behold, folks, this word was God. So he appropriates Greek to speak to a Greek world. >> Dr. Wahby: And the gospel of Matthew as I understand it, was the only one in Hebrew? >> Dr. Lamkin: It was not in Hebrew, originally it was in Greek, but it is the one that speaks much more to the common people. Yes. .> Dr. Wahby: Now, today we have other than King James, we have different versions, NIV and you name it, I am not sure, I've lost the numbers, these significantly big number of versions of the same original language. Each one says it is translated from the original language. Is this because of the richness, quote, unquote, of the Greek language that this word could be this, or this, or that or what?? >> Dr. Lamkin: Yes, xxcellent question. I like the idea; the Greek language is very colorful. It allows for great opportunities to interpret. The classic one we can look at is the word love. I love this, I love my dog, I love my wife, I love grits, you know, I love Mountain Dew in the afternoon, you know, those kinds of things. Where do we go with the understanding of Love? In Greek, there are four different words. So there are four different words in Greek just for love. And most of them you would know. Especially three of them, I think you are more aware of. Philia, philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, so there is that. >> DR. Wahby: Philia is brother? >> Dr. Lamkin: Philia is brother, so brotherly love. Then you have Eros, which is a kind of Erotic love, we are familiar with that. From the bible, if you've been involved with church, you understand what the word agape, and so there is that sense of a very high moral love, agape love. The fourth one that is not as well known is Storge, and that is another word for Love. The Greek language is very, very colorful. It allows for different kinds of ways to look at the language, and that is sometimes is why as we try to get that right English word to interpret that, you know, how do we do that if you are going to say, I love you. All right, we say that, English does it, but in Greek it is more colorful. I mean you can really have some fun. As you would talk about those particular words. And it plays out in the gospels. If you read in the New Testament, you know, there is that particular story, if you are familiar with that, where Jesus comes and asks Peter, do you love me? Yes, he says, I love you. And he comes back and says, "do you love Me?" and then he comes back again, do you love me, the Greek notices by the gets to the third time, he has shifted words, or lets' put it this way, the Greek writer shifted words, which makes it interesting for the preacher and the theologian, as you look at that, because even in the text there, the Greek notes a difference in the use of that word. >> Dr. Wahby: There is a difference just in follow-up on this, even in the reply of Peter when he said do you agape me? And he said I philio you or something? >> Dr. Lamkin: Yes, exactly. Exactly right. >> Dr. Wahby: Now, if you don't have other questions, I have another one. Yes. >> I am a very visual person, so I've heard you say the word Koine a few times, >> Dr. Lamkin: Koine, yes. >> Koine, ok. How do you spell that, because that would help me familiarize myself. >> Dr. Lamkin: K O I N E Sorry, and it would be very nice, Koine, that just simply refers to the common language that was spoken and it was developed. Please don't, you can't say that it was just set in stone and did not continue to develop. Koine Greek continued to develop as it met the needs of local peoples throughout the Mediterranean world. But the New Testament, the primary language in the New Testament is Koine Greek. It is not Classic Greek. However, as I said before, there are some parts of the New Testament that do have Classic Greek phrases. Primarily I am thinking of in Luke. But that's what Koine is. Koine Greek, and if you study, if anyone is, let's say if you are going to divinity school, and you are going to say I want to study New Testament Greek, you are going to study Koine. >> Dr. Wahby: And the term Koine has anything to do with Cornea, another Greek word or something? >> Dr. Lamkin: Yes, I can't come up with the exact background of that, you got me on that one, but there is a root background to it. Yes. >> Roshanna Hi I'm Roshanna. I am taking a History of Ancient Christianity course, and we discussed, when discussing the Council of Nicea, we discussed how the east wasn't as acceptable to the, basically to the, I am sorry; I am trying to figure out the word. >> Dr. Lamkin: That's ok, go ahead. >> Roshanna: Basically to what they produced. And did that have, did that affect the way ancient Greek language or culture spread throughout the east? Them not being so acceptable to the Council of Nicea's decisions? >> Dr. Lamkin: To some degree. You raise a very good point. Greek was the language of the church for it's first few centuries, but it remained the language of the Eastern Church. A lot of us in western culture do not appreciate I think as much what has happened in the life of the Eastern Church, as you get to Greece and what we would call Asia Minor, or Turkey and Palestine, and those areas. That was a very strong point for the development of Christianity and the language there was Greek. Up until Nicaea, all of the major bishoprics save one were in the east. The only major bishopric was in Rome. And some parts of church history it was as if the bishop of Rome was over by himself, sort of waving a flag saying all you other bishops remember I am over here. The bishops in the east, primarily the bishop of Alexandria, and the bishop[00:41:52;12] of Antioch, Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch in Northern Palestine, those bishops had major influence and a lot of the debates will go between Antioch and Alexandria, if you are studying in church history. So I am finally getting to your point, in that particular regard I think Greek language and their understanding in how they saw things, they are going to spread that through their language. So Greek will be the dominant language of the Eastern Church, and it will be the dominant language of the eastern empire, which will be known eventually as the Byzantine Empire. And the Byzantine Empire will last until the mid-1400's when it is overcome by Islamic forces, when they finally Constantinople falls and the great Christian church there the hagisophia, the great Christian church, is overnight transformed from a Christian church into an Islamic mosque. In fact, if you go to Istanbul today, and you go to that church, which is still standing, and you'll look at the very top area of it, you will still see Christian symbols in this church. It is an ancient, ancient church. So, Greek was the language of the Eastern Church and it was language of the eastern empire, and it obviously had more influence for a long period of time than the west. It took a while for the bishop of Rome to let the rest of the church know that maybe they needed to give him the recognition that he liked. I hope if you come from a Roman Tradition, you will not discount this, but it took a little bit of while, though his claim was pretty good, but he also had fellow bishops that he had to struggle with, so his claim in the western world, Latin, could not be quite as strong as the influence with the east, with Greek. Does that get a little bit of what you were asking? Ok. ok. Good. >> Dr. Wahby: Any other questions? >> So I am just curious now, what is the term It's all Greek to me, [Unclear dialogue] >> Dr. Lamkin: Excellent question. The question is, where did the term come from, "it's all Greek to me"? I don't know the full background to that, but I would hazard, and this is a careful, or not a very careful thing to do, I would hazard several things. Greek throughout much of history has been a language that a lot of people have known especially, those who are more learned. As I mentioned in Rome, those who were the leaders, the educated folk in Rome, would know Latin and Greek. So, it was well known, so also it was one you had to work on. I mean, not everyone knew the language. It is very, very colorful, and as it spread, many people were aware of the fact that it was widespread, they knew it was well-used, they knew it had many implications, but there were also many people who did not know the Greek. So, it's Greek to me, I mean it's a language out there, that is in the sphere of knowledge, but it's not one that I am well-appropriated with. That's the kind of guess I would hazard. Yes.