Babel Flashcards - the PhD student's new friend

A PhD student named Drayton Benner contacted me recently about his new flashcard software application for Mac and PC. I was happy to check it out, and am happy to let others know what I think of the program, Babel Flashcards.

As with any application, there are pros and cons. Let me get the cons out of the way.

1. Unless I simply overlooked it, there is no way for you to create your own cards, nor edit existing cards. You are limited to the decks made specifically for this application.
2. PC users don't care about interface too much, but Mac users do. It isn't very Mac-like.
3. In the age of multimedia, it's nice to be able to add audio to the cards if a user wants. No such ability here.
4. No mobile app. I do the majority of my flashcard studying on my iPhone nowadays.


Now the pros. I can see this program being just great for PhD students living and breathing the biblical languages. Each card has important metadata attached to them— frequency, part of speech, and location. Users can create derivative decks using this metadata. So, create yourself a deck of all verbs and nouns in the book of James that occur 30 times or less. Or make a deck to quiz yourself on all adjectives in Hosea. The sky's the limit. This is pretty powerful stuff. The only other Flashcard program like it is Ken Penner's Flash! Pro. The difference between Babel and Flash! Pro is compatibility with both Mac and PC. Also, with Babel you can just choose the Greek deck for a lower cost, whereas Flash! Pro includes everything automatically.

I hope some students out there find Babel Flashcards useful. It is a well written app. I've also added it to my flashcard roundup page.

All right- the Greek songs are done, here comes the Hebrew

As most of you know, I've been working Greek music videos for the past few years. I'm excited to let readers know that Kregel Academic will be publishing my Greek music videos, hopefully by the end of the year!

I have started working this past year on Hebrew videos. These have been quite a bit harder - my Hebrew pronunciation isn't as good as my Greek, and rhymes are a little harder to come by.

Anyway, I'd like to unveil my first Hebrew video today on Deinde. It will be permanently available here, or watch it below.

Dear Dale Pritchett - show me the proof!

The big new news for Logos Bible Software lately has been the pre-pub announcement of Learn to Use Biblical Greek and Hebrew with Logos Bible Software. While I am happy enough with the concept, I will hold off until I actually see the videos to comment. Suffice it to say, I think there is tremendous value in actually learning a language. Conversely, knowing just a little bit without knowing all of the main elements can make you a dangerous preacher and exegete. The traditional answer for language acquisition has been to teach all of the basic elements first, while this new method will try something different. It will be interesting to see if it in fact does equip Logos users to do it on their own, or if it just holds their hand through a few passages (churches with Logos-using pastors may start hearing identical sermons once the publication comes out :-)

However, the question I want to ask today is a statement made by Dale Pritchett at the beginning of the most recent Logos blog post. He states:

For many years now, schools have been downsizing Greek and Hebrew programs due to decreasing demand. Students have been opting-out of the rigorous language programs in such numbers that we now estimate that less than fifteen percent of all seminary students complete a Greek or Hebrew language course as part of their degree program. You have to believe, as a result, the exegetical skills in the pulpit have been greatly reduced. This concerns us greatly.

I would really like to know what statistics Dale has to estimate this 15%. I of course am in agreement with his last statement, exegetical skills without the primary languages are limited and it shows in churches. But as far as I can tell, the "downsizing" of language programs is a myth- or at least an over-exaggeration. Let me explain.

Currently, my place of work is going through the tedious 10-year ATS review. Following this review will be a year-long re-evaluation of the curriculum. Now, as the intro languages teacher, I naturally got just a little nervous about my "babies" (intro Greek and intro Hebrew) as it is "common knowledge" that seminaries are dropping the languages.

So, in order for me and my colleagues to think intelligently on the issue, I did some fact finding. I visited the websites of about 30 seminaries, mostly Canadian but some American, of similar size offering similar programs. I found 1 which had dropped the languages, and as far as I can tell it is because they have a greatly reduced M.Div. (72 credit hours rather than 90). EVERY other seminary I looked at required languages at the graduate level. In fact, my school ranks as one that requires the least amount. This led me to the belief that this "downsizing" is a myth that has been simply passed on and taken as truth.

It is easy to understand why. Students complain about it and so the myth begins that schools will cut them to make students happier. Trouble is, most of those who are in leadership at seminaries continue to recognize the value of the original languages and keep them as core courses.

Now perhaps I am wrong, but if I am, show me.