[B-Greek] Two statements in John's Gospel

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Aug 19 16:29:45 EDT 2003


I really agree with what Waldo has said here; I had no business speaking of
the "paradox" in the citation from Isaiah. The question raised by Mitch
Larramore calls for a hermeneutical method; the reason that we avoid
discussion of hermeneutics on B-Greek is that, as with list-members'
theological perspectives, so too with hermeneutical perspectives there is a
broad spectrum. I think that Mitch realized this when he posed his original
question and that this was the reason why he solicited off-list opinions. I
think he was more discerning than were we who responded on-list to his
question.

At 11:45 AM -0700 8/19/03, waldo slusher wrote:
>--- "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
>wrote:
>
>> >DIA TOUTO OUK HDUNANTO PISTEUEIN, hOTI PALIN EIPEN
>> >HSAIAS, TETUFLWKEN AUTWN TOUS OFQALMOUS KAI
>> EPWRWSEN
>> >AUTWN THN KARDIAN, hINA MH IDWSIN TOIS OFQALMOIS
>> KAI
>> >NOHSWSIN THi KARDIAi KAI STRAFWSIN, KAI IASOMAI
>> AUTOUS
>> (corrected)
>>
>
>>
>> The passage in chapter 12 is offering a reason for
>> what the passage in the
>> prologue states as a fact. That passage of Isaiah
>> (from chapter 6) is
>> frequently cited in the gospels as an explanation
>> for failure to understand
>> or believe by audiences addressed by Jesus (e.g. Mk
>> 4:12 and
>> parallels)--but it is a paradox of sorts in every
>> instance,
>
>I think "paradox" is much too strong here if we limit
>ourselves to just these passages that Mitch raises
>(even if we limit ourselves to the Gospel according to
>John in toto). Neither of these passages expose or
>identify all the antecedent causes or events, any
>number of which could easily eliminate some "paradox"
>if known. Since this list does not allow the
>discussion of hermeneutical options (though both Carl
>and Mark have in my opinion done so), I think passages
>like these Mitch raises cannot be adequately addressed
>here if one's goal is to understand THE MEANING of the
>passages.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list