[B-Greek] Poythrees on BDAG and translation theory
Harold R. Holmyard III
hholmyard at ont.com
Wed Jan 28 18:51:21 EST 2004
Dear Ann,
Thank you for your lengthy, informative, and erudite post. I will try to
reread it. However, I would like to respond to one small point. You write:
The lobbyists present
a confusion between the original languages and the English, which is
difficult to explain, but easy to see. The following quote by Grudem should
help:
"...throughout the NRSV the human race is no longer called 'man.' The
majestic, noble name which God gave us as humans at the beginning of
creation - the great and wonderful name 'man' - is no longer our name in the
Bible.... Feminist pressure has renamed the human race. We are now to be
called 'humankind,' instead of the name God gave us."
By the way, this has nothing to do with translation theory. Translation
theory in gendered language would apply if one uses inclusive language in
this society of this time, despite the exclusiveness of gendered language in
the NT. The words on which the lobbyists focus were in fact inclusive in the
original languages of the NT, but the lobbyists state incorrectly that they
were not and attempt to confuse the matter by presenting a confusion of
Greek with English. In the English language people have a choice: they can
use either "mankind" and "humankind". This is their personal choice which
they are free to make and this is where translation theory comes in.
However, Grudem, Poythress, and their fellow lobbyists go further in
implying that these are the actual words in the Greek (or Hebrew) as
evidenced by Grudem's above statement about the human race. Yes, it doesn't
make sense, but does distance the reader from the facts of the matter.
HH: Grudem made a little mistake by directly equating "man" with the name
given by God at the beginning of creation, but it seems his reasoning
should be clear. Grudem evidently holds that "man" functions in English the
way that "ADAM" does in Hebrew. Yes, ADAM is inclusive of men and women,
and Grudem understands that. But ADAM is also the name for the male. So it
corresponds with the English word "man," which is inclusive of men and
woman as a universal term but also represents the male. Grudem's reasoning
is that it is good to preserve, if possible, the use of the English term
that corresponds so well to the Hebrew term.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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