Mounce

A K M Adam akm-adam at nwu.edu
Wed Dec 1 08:56:48 EST 1999


George,

>Sometimes, it would be refreshingly transparent if one were to say: 
>"Of the two possible treatments of this Greek construction, I choose 
>approach "a" because it is in keeping with my other doctrinal 
>understandings.

I'm trying to carve out a niche in the debate over hermeneutics that 
allows for just this option--but (as you no doubt well know) one can 
hardly overestimate the inclination of biblical interpreters to think 
that being right is insufficient--they must be conclusively, 
exclusively, indubitably right.

I can't do that--it just seems to me that I disagree with enough 
people who are smarter and wiser than I am, that I have to say, "I'm 
convinced that I'm right--but Burton Mack (or Bill Mounce or W. D. 
Davies) has very good reasons for thinking what he thinks. I'm just 
not convinced."

Of course, scholars constantly observe your injunction--in reverse. 
"Goolde upholds this position because it best fits his theology 
[whereas *I*, implicitly, have reached my opposing conclusion based 
on unfettered reason]."

Grace and peace be with you--may your sensibility catch on....

AKMA

-- 
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
akm-adam at nwu.edu

Truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it 
makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly and with power.
Pope Paul VI, Dignitatis Humanae



More information about the B-Greek mailing list