Theology Degree - language Choice

[Deni99]

Hi,

Looking for advice re the best language to study in first year of a Theology degree with no clear idea of a future specialism. Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit or Greek? Any help appreciated.

A lot more Arabic speakers in the world today than the other languages. Useful for travel, and foreign office jobs, maybe? But would it be modern Arabic, including speaking and listening? If Greek, it would be ancient Greek, just reading, I imagine, which wouldn't be much help for ordering cocktails on Zante.
I studied ancient Greek and loved Homer, Greek tragedy etc. But never did New Testament Greek, which would probably be the focus of Theology Greek. The other way to think of it is which scriptures would be most interesting to be able to read in the original language? You can obviously analyse meaning of a text more accurately if you're not depending on someone else's translation. So which language's scriptures would you want to spend most time on?

Might they want to carry on studying theology for a Masters or even PhD? If so, definitely Greek.