[B-Greek] mark 6:2

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Jan 7 07:02:58 EST 2004


At 6:32 PM -0500 1/6/04, Vince Endris <vince_endris at hotmail.com> d wrote:
>
>Dear B- Greek,
>
>Mark 6:2 has the phrase: KAI TIS H SOPHIA H DOQEISA TOUTW, KAI hAI DUNAMEIS
>TOIAUTAI DIA TWN CEIRWN AUTOU GINOMENAI. Can I translate this "Who has given
>him this wisdom and [the ability to do] these powerful deeds done through
>his hands?"

While that's not so much dead wrong, such a translation shifts the focus
away from what is being asked in the Greek passive construction to a
different question, the question of the source of Jesus' extraordinary
endowment. I think that focus lies more upon the novelty or strangeness of
the character and performance of Jesus than upon the source of that
character and performance. To be sure, there is recognition that these
endowments transcend ordinary human nature, but the choice of the passive
voice here seems to focus upon the endowments themselves: perhaps something
like, "How are we to understand the cleverness granted this man and
miracles such as these performed by his hands?"
-- 

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/



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