gennawing males

Stephen C. Carlson scarlson at mindspring.com
Wed Dec 1 21:14:52 EST 1999


At 01:03 PM 12/1/99 -0500, Bart Ehrman wrote:
>   The reason I'm interested in GENNAW just now is because 1 Clement
>quotes Ps. 2:7 (or, at least, quotes the quotation of Ps. 2:7 in Heb. 1).
>Why *not* translate it: "You are my son, today I have given you birth"?
>Is it only because we know that God is a man instead of a woman, and so
>can't give birth?  Seems like the logic of that could be pushed in lots of
>directions (e.g., the pressure points: "know," "man," "and so").  But are
>there other reasons?

It seems to me that we should not prejudice the male/female issue in
the translation either way.  Although "begat" can be gender-neutral,
it is archaic, contains theological connotation possibly inappropriate
for 1 Clement, and typically used of males since "borne" is a convenient
word for females.  "Sired" and "fathered" are biased in favor of a male
image, and "have given you birth" is biased in favor a female image.

Perhaps we should explore: "You are my son, today I have procreated
you" or "... today I have brought you forth"  or "... today I have
engendered you."

Stephen Carlson
--
Stephen C. Carlson                        mailto:scarlson at mindspring.com
Synoptic Problem Home Page   http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/synopt/
"Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs chant the words."  Shujing 2.35



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