[B-Greek] Romans 12:1

Arie Dirkzwager dirkzwager at pandora.be
Sun Jul 18 09:08:07 EDT 2004


Frank,

You are writing about an English problem. In Dutch we are using allways the
singular in expressions like "their heart", "their body". We have to learn
in school that we should use the plural in English (and other languages)
when referring to more hearts, bodies etc.


[And concerning further points of discussion:]
I do not think we are because of that more "middle-east-minded" in Flanders
and the Netherlands than people in the U.K. and the U.S.A. Besides, we
should not exaggerate differences in "Greek thinking" and "Semitic thinking"
as some theologians do. Thinking logically did not start in Greece.
In the Middle Ages European people used to identify as member of a group
more than now, but you cannot say that logic was forgotten then. The
popularity of Thomas is proving the contrary.


Arie


Dr.A. Dirkzwager
Hoeselt, Belgium
e-mail dirkzwager at pandora.be

----- Oorspronkelijk bericht -----
Van: <EgwEimi at aol.com>
Aan: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Verzonden: zaterdag 17 juli 2004 1:07
Onderwerp: Re: [B-Greek] Romans 12:1


> Agreement in "gender, number, and case" is not used
> in every circumstance.  Specifically, "number" can
> be used distributively, as Harold has indicated.
>
> A simple example of this can be found when looking
> up the more common expression "their heart," an
> example of which is found in 2C 3:15 --
> EPI THN KARDIAN AUTWN.
>
> Look up "your heart," and you'll find quite a few
> of those seemingly mismatched, too.  For example:
> ...DIALOGIZESQE (pl.) ... ECETE (pl.) ...
> NOEITE (pl.) ... SUNIETE (pl.) ... ECETE (pl.) ...
> THN KARDIAN (sing.) hUMWN (pl.).
> The audience is multiple, and all of the addresses are
> in the plural, but Jesus refers to "your heart" being
> hardened, when in English, we would say "your hearts."
>
> "They" have more than one heart.  In English, we
> would say "their _hearts_" instead.  You'll also find
> examples (like Eph 4:17) of TOU NOOS AUTWN
> "their (plural) mind (singular)".
>
> They had the same attitude, so "heart" or "mind"
> could be used in the singular, even though the author
> meant that they had that attitude individually.
>
> Similarly, the members of the group individually
> present themselves as living sacrifices; they're all
> doing the same kind of thing, so it's not improper to
> say "sacrifice."  It is not a single event.
>
> Here's another use of "body" in the singular, where
> the plural is intended:
>
> 1Q 5:23 has "hUMWN TO PNEUMA KAI H
> YUCH KAI TO SWMA."
>
> your (pl.) spirit and soul and body.  It's not a
> collective spirit, or soul, or body here; the passage
> means "spirits, souls, bodies."
>
> You'll even find "our body" in Phil 3:21, where it
> means "bodies."
>
> Frank
>
> Frank  Daniels
> EgwEimi at aol.com
>
>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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>




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