Mammon
Stephen C. Carlson
scarlson at mindspring.com
Fri Jan 28 22:56:26 EST 2000
At 12:27 PM 1/28/00 -0800, Joseph Garnier wrote:
>I am working in Luke 16: 9-13, and have difficulty with the word MAMMON. To
>my understanding Mammon was a personifiication of selfish wealth and
>extravagance in opposition to God that was well-known among those of Aramaic
>culture. That quality of personification is lost on today's readers when
>the word is transliterated Mammon, as in most translations, or wealth as in
>the rest. I have thought long and hard for a personification of selfish
>extravagance that is generallyh known in our culture, and I think the most
>widely recognized term is Scrooge, and so I am using it instead of Mammon.
>In the statement that you cannot serve God and Scrooge (v.13), I think the
>appropriateness of personification is vital to a correct interpretation.
>What do you who are wiser and more knowledgeable than I think?
Interesting question. How about: "You cannot serve both God and
the Almighty Dollar"?
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
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list