racist overtones in Hermas

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Sun Sep 3 21:28:45 EDT 2000


Dear Bart,

You wrote:

>>    In that oh so long ninth Similitude, the Shepherd is explaining to
>> Hermas the significance of the twelve mountains that he saw.  I'm trying
>> to figure out if it's possible to translate the passage about the first
>> mountain without giving it modern racist overtones (which would have been
>> foreign to the world of the text).  The passage reads something like:
>>
>>    The believers from the first mountain, which was black, are like
>>    this: they are apostates and blasphemers against the Lord and betrayers
>>    of the slaves of God.  There is no repentance for these, but
>>    death.  This is why they are black, because their race also is lawless.
>>
>>    The last bit is: KAI DIA TOUTO KAI MELANES EISI, KAI GAR TO GENOS AUTWN
>> ANOMON ESTIN.

If the text is without racial overtones and describes a spiritual category,
then perhaps one could translate:

And for this reason they are black, for also their kind is lawless.

				Yours,
				Harold Holmyard





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