EPI PASH TH MNEIA hUMON - Philippians 1:3
Carl Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Aug 11 10:41:25 EDT 1999
On 08/11/99, "Carlton Winbery <winberyc at popalex1.linknet.net>" wrote:
> >On 08/10/99, ""Joseph Brian Tucker" <music at riverviewcog.org>" wrote:
> >> Greetings
> >
> >I came across a rather simple construction in Philippians, that I soon
> >realized required some attention. EPI PASH TH MNEIA hUMON means, "in all
> >the [my]remembrance of you." Is this phrase a subjective genitive "for all
> >your remembrance [of me]." This seems contextually possible (4:10). This
> >requires a causal sense of EPI in verses 3 and 5 - and a parallel
> >prepositional clause understanding, as well. (verse 5 EPI THi KOINWNIAi
> >hUMWN).
> >CWC reply:
> >No; MNEIAi, of course, depends upon EPI, but hUMWN depends upon MNEIAi and
> >here should, I think, be seen as an "objective" genitive: "at every mention
> >of you" = "every time I mention you." It's true that in verse 5 the hUMWN
> >ought rather to be seen as subjective: "your sharing" = "the fact that you
> >share."
> >
> >Does this conflict with Paul's normal usage of MNEIA? In Romans, 1
> >Thessalonians, the reference is to Paul's remembrance of his addressees.
> >Because of the normal epistolary structure of Paul's writings, should EPI
> >PASHi THi MNEIAi hUMWN be taken as an objective genitive?
> >
> >I think the instances of MNEIA in the letters of Paul are all with an
> >objective genitive, i.e., the genitive represents an object of
> >"remembrance" or "mentioning."
> >
> >Gordon Fee opts for, "everytime I remember you." As does Silva.
> >O'Brien opts for, "because of your remembrance of me."
> >
> >I think Fee and Silva are right here; I think that MNEIA more normally
> >means "bringing to consciousness," "calling to mind," or "mentioning" than
> >it does "remembrance" in the sense of "thinking graciously about" (a person
> >or persons).
> >
> For me the most important factor in determining objective or subjective
> genitive is context. Of course that includes the writers's usage elsewhere.
> At one time I opted for subjective genitive until I noticed verse 7. "For
> me to think this way concerning all of you is right." It seems Paul is the
> one doing the remembering.
>
> Another issue is MOI in verse 7. It is interesting that on rare occasions
> the dative of reference functions with the infinitive very much like the
> accusative of reference does with the infinitive in what some call the
> subject accusative. Should we add another catagory for the subject dative?
Well, of course we can say that EMOI really construes with DIKAION ESTI in
vs. 7 and that the infinitive takes DIKAION as a predicate adjective. But
this is really little different from PREPEI MOI + infinitive or PROSHKEI
MOI + infinitive, in which constructions one might argue either that the
dative is construed with the verb or that it functions as the subject of
the infinitive. Another instance of a dative of the subject might be the
common construction of a perfect passive with a dative of agent: e.g.
TETELESTAI TAUTA MOI = "I have accomplished these things."
In this respect, I might just note that I thought one of the more
interesting and valuable elements in Funk's 3-volume BEGINNING-INTERMEDIATE
GRAMMAR OF HELLENISTIC GREEK was its way of noting together concomitant
ways of saying the same thing, as for example PROS AUTOUS = AUTOIS, hINA
TAUTA POIHSHi = EIS TO POIEIN TAUTA.
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