Theological Red Flags

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stuartbrianhenlis

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Hi all!

I’m currently trying to learn Biblical Greek, using what may be Protestant-oriented study materials, since there are no Catholic-oriented tools. My concern is that I will be exposed to Protestant theology. Does anyone have any suggestions of what red flags I need to be aware of?

Thanks so much

Stuart
 
Well, the biggest flag is they rely on scripture alone, or at least put it far above Sacred Tradition. They may have some of the beliefs from ecumenical councils or some Church Fathers (most mainstream Protestants would accept the basic Creed, for example), but they always see that as secondary to what is in the Bible. In general, their theology comes from how an individual interprets the Bible rather than how a Church teaches based on Tradition, including Sacred Scripture.
 
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stuartbrianhenlis said:
Hi all!

I’m currently trying to learn Biblical Greek, using what may be Protestant-oriented study materials, since there are no Catholic-oriented tools. My concern is that I will be exposed to Protestant theology. Does anyone have any suggestions of what red flags I need to be aware of?

Thanks so much

Stuart
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There is the danger of running into “you are saved by faith alone” stuff, depending on the author, but when studying Greek, you will also realize that what many Catholics consider “red flags” are not red flags at all, and as you advance, you will recognize more and more how right the Catholic teachings are.

For example, you might get an exegesis from the Greek that confirms that “we are saved by faith”. You might think of that as a red flag, but is in fact, not, according to both the Greek AND according to the Catholic Church.

I find that material by William Mounce is easy enough and does not contain dangerous material. For the most part, for as long as the training material is fixed on the language, bias is usually remote.
 
For Catholics, context is everything. Protestants often take bible verses out of context to prove a point, when the context, in relation to the audience, location, to Old Testament prefiguring called Typology, will completely shut down the protestant teaching.

We do have a study guide, but not one that you would expect. Having the Early Church fathers as role models in our understanding of the Greek Bible. By studying the Early Church fathers’ teachings, it will reveal better understanding of the original Greek text and their often wordplay of the authors.

Catholic study guides will often refer to Greek in important text, but only for those that could be confusing. I just recently found out how protestants argue away “Hail, Full of Grace” of Luke 1:28 by citing the 4th century Latin Vulgate as a mistranslation by a meager attempt to translate the Greek themselves (incorrectly). Now we have dozens of protestant Bible translations with this mistake that tries to argue away Mary’s Immaculate Conception.
 
Thanks, Little Lady,

I’ve just checked out the Verbum site and I hate to say it, but Verbum is way out of my financial league. I’m on a fixed (very fixed) income, so I have to use what’s available to me in my price range.
 
This one is free. I have used it when learning Biblical Greek and there is a focus on the structure of the language/grammar. No Theological discussions in the book. Combine it with a good dictionary and you are set to go. I am sure you can find a second hand one if money is tight.

https://www.textkit.com/scans/SSG_Intro_NT_Greek.pdf
 
If your local.library has Hoopla, you may be able to watch Greek 101 classes from The Great Courses. For free. Professor Mueller is fun.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, Mintaka,

I’ll stick with my current lessons. The instructor is excellent.
 
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