EN EKEINWi TWi KAIRWi = TOTE ???
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Nov 12 07:50:12 EST 2000
At 2:09 AM -0600 11/12/00, Jason Hare wrote:
>Mark,
>
>I am not suggesting that it was a divinely appointed time. Quite the
>opposite. I am suggesting/questioning that KAIROS has lost its "appointed
>time/season" flavor and been brought down to simply meaning "then" (well,
>together with EN EKEINWi TWi...). Is it possible that KAIROS has lost its
>normal timespan feel and been given a punctiliar sense? Could this be
>based on the fact that Matthew may have written in Hebrew/Aramaic as his
>original?
I don't think KAIROS has to be a "divinely appointed" time, although
clearly enough it's sometimes used that way. Originally it seems to have
referred to the point at which seasons change, i.e. solstice, equinox. But
then I recall a sentence in one of the Greek primers (probably Chase and
Phillips): CRONOS MEN ESTIN EN hWi POLLOI KAIROI EISIN, KAIROS D' EN hWi OU
POLUS CRONOS.
I rather think that in the passage in question (Mt 11:25) EN EKEINWi TWi
KAIRWi may possibly be simply equivalent to TOTE. On the other hand, the
Jesus saying looks like it may have originally been spoken in an
eschatological context, so I wouldn't rule out the alternative; I think
that the question hangs on a larger understanding of the function of this
passage in Matthew's gospel, i.e., on redactional intention, and that gets
beyond the legitimate scope of B-Greek discussion, inasmuch as there's more
than one way the context might be understood.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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