[B-Greek] Begotten, Not Made
Jonathan Bailey
baileyjn at hotmail.com
Wed Nov 9 03:53:56 EST 2005
Can anyone please help me get some information on the whole gennao vs genos
in the monogenes issue? I am sure this subject has been talked to death, and
most of you would be content to tell me to check the archives or to refer to
widely available print material, but I am here in Iraq with no access to
libraries, and limited access to the internet even.
I am thinking of switching from the NKJV translation to the ESV translation
and this is one of the issues that I am wrestling with.
I see some names on here that I new from the 90's, namely Jim West. I am
Jonathan Bailey, and attended the Hochule Fuer Juedische Studien in
Heidelberg from 1997 to 2000, but when I got married, financial concerns
caused me to give up my academic venues to support a family and landed me
back in the Army. I am wrapping up a tour in Iraq, and have decided that I
have to be true to my calling to return to academia. My wife, once an
unskilled Russian immigrant, is now a qualified nurse and is supporting me
getting out of the Army to go to school. I intend to be more focused on
Hebrew and Semitic languages in the long run (The Army did teach me Arabic),
but am using this year to 'get Greek mastered and out of the way'. I have
been studying Greek for 10 years, but never with the focus required to gain
a measure of solid 'fluency'. I have been reading the b-greek digests for a
while now, never finding the need to contribute (I usually answer my own
questions after doing some of my own searching, thanking myself for not
posting on b-greek rashly and looking the fool).
But on this monogenes issue I just haven't had the time or opportunity to do
the digging required to find what I want. My concern is that all the
Reformation bibles translate monogenes as only begotten, and am skeptical
that we have just now figured out the true meaning of this word, being
millenia removed from the native speakers. I have the Peshitta and Vulgate
available here on BibleWorks, but my knowlege of those languages is limited
and I haven't come to any definite conclusions. So I was wondering if anyone
could point me to some really solid information online or give me an indepth
recap of what is making all the new bibles translate monogenes as 'unique'
or 'one of a kind' based on linking the word to 'genos' instead of 'gennao'.
What ancient texts support that theory? What phonological suppositions were
involved?
Anything that you guys can clarify or any online resources you can point me
to would be much appreciated.
Thanks a lot.
Jon Bailey
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