[B-Greek] Translation of EN TWi NAWi AUTOU

Kevin Riley klriley at alphalink.com.au
Mon Aug 21 20:58:34 EDT 2006


 It may be a dialect difference, but if the building is being referenced, I
would only use "in".  "At church" can be in or out of the building, because
it refers more to the activity - "I saw him at church today" could mean in
the carpark, or the hall, or in the church itself, but "in the church" only
means in the building.  From memory, all the NT references to the temple
actually refer to the building, so "in" seems more natural to me.

Kevin Riley
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: David Kuhn
Date: 08/22/06 07:56:07
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [B-Greek] Translation of EN TWi NAWi AUTOU
 
First, let me apologize to the group for my previous posts. I have received
correction via e-mail for both my faulty transliteration of the Greek as
well as entering a "screen name" that does not apply to the B-Greek List.
These are my first posts to this List and any doubt that I am a novice must
surely be removed by now! My sincere apologies to all.
 
I have a very simple--perhaps even ignorant question. In various NT passages
we have the English translation "in the temple." Regardless if the NAOS or
HIERON is being referred to my question is can this expression, such as
found at Revelation 7:15, be rendered "at the temple" instead of "in the
temple"?
 
At Revelation 7:15 the clause is "EN TWi NAWi AUTOU" which is either
rendered "in his temple" or "in his sanctuary" depending on the translation
being used.
 
My question is based on the fact that in English it is quite natural to use
the word "at" in this case rather then "in." Thus an english speaker would
more naturally say "I was at church" rather then "I was in church."
 
This is not a theological question but simply a grammatical one for a paper
I am writing. I am not attempting to debate the differences in NAOS and
HIERON but simply seeking to know if there is any grammatical reason why the
English word "at" could not be used as an appropriate translation of the
Greek preposition EN in the phrase EN TWi NAWi AUTOU.
 
Again, I would like to apologize for my previous erroneous posts. In the
future I will be far more careful.
 
Sincere thanks in advance,
 
David Kuhn
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