[B-Greek] KOSMOS

cwestf5155 at aol.com cwestf5155 at aol.com
Fri Sep 1 11:17:15 EDT 2006


  William,
 
 There is some good stuff out and lexicography and theory that could shed some light on this thread, including the introduction to L&N. But a good book has come out recently by J.A.L. Lee called "A History of NT Lexicography" (2003). 
 
 Your comments seem to reflect a good understanding of "meaning/definition" and "gloss".
 
 But allow me to set the table with just a few things off the top of my head:
 1. There can be multiple definitions of a word: an economic clear and succint statement of the area of meaning covered by a word. According to Lee, it usually involves one or more phrases that could/should be interchangeable with a gloss--I'm thinking about that one.
 2. There can be multiple glosses of a word for any given definition--maybe "habitat" could be a good gloss for KOSMOS in some contexts.
 
 However, I therefore would qualify "one one would be hard pressed to find a more suitable gloss for KOSMOS than "world". The most suitable gloss depends on the context, and words have no meaning apart from context. Lee talks about one of the major problems with traditional NT lexicography (and Biblical studies) is the focus on a particular gloss (and consequent arguments), even when translation is not an issue. 
 
 An additional comment from linguistics and relevance theory: John and any other writer can take a word and use it in a special way, give it a special definition or refine its meaning, which is "constraint". Any time an author uses a word repeatedly, the meaning of the word is interpreted both in the context of its previous occurrences and in its current context--so it doesn't have to have the same meaning every time if there are clear signals otherwise in the close context. 
 
 So lexical theory does not support the theory that words have their own theology in NT study (a kind of scary assumption behind some of our best works that contain word studies), but does recognize the authors such as John "play" with words.
 
  Cindy Westfall
 Assistant Professor
 McMaster Divinity College 
  
 -----Original Message-----
 From: woundedegomusic at gmail.com
 To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
 Sent: Fri, 1 Sep 2006 7:21 AM
 Subject: Re: [B-Greek] KOSMOS
 
  I didn't mean to suggest that "habitat" was "the meaning" of KOSMOS, or even
that it would make a suitable gloss. I just said that they had a lot in
common. I do note that BDAG 5b bears this out:

    b. the world as the habitation of humanity

7a seems to relate to my idea of a "stage":

    a. as scene of earthly joys, possessions, cares, sufferings

I think we would, as you say, be hard pressed to find a more suitable gloss
for KOSMOS than "world" but I think that it does not perfectly convey KOSMOS
and it has been helpful to me to consider those differences.

Thanks to all,

William Ross
VGB, Argentina


-----Original Message-----
From: Carl W. Conrad [mailto:cwconrad2 at mac.com] 
Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 9:17 AM
To: Wounded Ego
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] KOSMOS

I honestly don't think "habitat" will do. While it is true 
that KOSMOS does in some instances correlate to "world" as
the inhabited world, the standard ancient Greek term for
"the inhabited world" is OIKOUMENH (e.g. Lk 2:1, for which see 
BDAG. That word is used 15x in the GNT. The sense of KOMOS, on 
the other hand, does correspond in its breadth of idiomatic usage 
to "world" in English, "monde" in French. As with many other Greek
words used in the NT, it is appropriate to convey its sense as
it appears in its context. Where it refers to "people generally"
or "humanity" then it might be preferable to use one of those
words/phrases as a gloss for KOSMOS in a specific passage. I think,
however, that "world" is a standard English gloss for KOSMOS in 
Bible versions in English is that "world" covers much the same
RANGE of denotations and connotations as the Biblical Greek word
KOSMOS.

There have occasionally been discussions about the inadequacies of
BDAG or L&N with regard to treatment of a particular word, but I
don't see the word KOSMOS as a word mishandled by them.

E.g., here's BDAG's entry on KOSMOS -- just a listing of headings
and sub-headings, without the examples cited for each usage:

KOSMOS, OU, hO (Hom.+)
  1. that which serves to beautify through decoration, adornment, adorning
  2. condition of orderliness, orderly arrangement, order
  3. the sum total of everything here and now, the world, the (orderly)
universe, in philosophical usage
  4. the sum total of all beings above the level of the animals, the world
  5. planet earth as a place of inhabitation, the world
    a. generally
    b. the world as the habitation of humanity
    c. earth, world in contrast to heaven
   6. humanity in general, the world
    a. generally
    b. of all humanity, but especially of believers, as the object of
God?s love
   7. the system of human existence in its many aspects, the world
    a. as scene of earthly joys, possessions, cares, sufferings
    b. the world, and everything that belongs to it, appears as that
which is hostile to God, i.e. lost in sin, wholly at odds w. anything
divine, ruined and depraved
   8. collective aspect of an entity, totality, sum total


On Friday, September 01, 2006, at 07:52AM, William Ross 
<woundedegomusic at gmail.com> wrote:

>I think KOSMOS has a lot in common with the word "habitat." I am beginning
>to get some images in my head, such as an aquarium. If fish in an aquarium
>used the word KOSMOS then they would never be referring to the tank itself
>(which was their "Universe") because they had no conception of that.
Rather,
>they would think of the picture on the back of the tank (their "sky") and
>the arrangement of coral and the treasure chest and rocks, along with the
>fish in the habitat. If, someone were to remove the picture from the back
>and destroy the treasure chest and such and kill the fish, then the world
>would be no more because the order was destroyed. If there were a new
>pictu e and the treasure chest was remade as a pier, then that would be a
>new world. Also, if a fish were first removed from the tank in a plastic
bag
>full of water, then replaced after the renewal, then he would live in a new
>world - even though he is once again in the same tank, with largely the
same
>props. This is because it is a different habitat - a different life system.
>
>We see just this thing in 2 Peter 3:6
>
>4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers
>fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
>creation.
>5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
>heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the
>water:
>6  Whereby the world [KOSMOS] that then was, being overflowed with water,
>perished:
>7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept
>in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
>ungodly men.
>
>The KOSMOS is also like a theatrical stage set. As Shakespeare said, "All
>the world is a stage." One could tear down the set and then create a new
>world. Believers are on the stage but not part of the set - not part of the
>play.
>
>We also speak of "in my world" or "in his own world." Even in English there
>is this sense of arrangement that is different from "humanity in general"
>and the anachronistic "universe."
>
>In John and Paul, the "habitat" is primarily characterized by the "moral
>climate" and the ones who dictate the "rules" of the society. 
>
>William Ross
>VGB, Argentina
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
>[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Craig J
>Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 10:18 PM
>To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: Re: [B-Greek] KOSMOS
>
>Carlton Winbery wrote:
>> John 1:10 seems to me to be three distinct uses of KOSMOS.
>> 
>> EN TWi KOSMWi HN, KAI hO KOSMOS DI' AUTOU EGENETO, KAI hO KOSMOS 
>> AUTON OUK EGNW.
>> 
>> 1) alludes to him being part of humanity.
>> 2) the universe
>> 3) humanity apart from God
>
>I don't think such a strong and overly technical distinction is necessary.
A
>straight forward reading could make them all the same, as in the following
>slight paraphrase:
>
>"He was in the world, and that world was made through him, and that world
>did not know him"
>
>I guess KOSMOS would then equate to something like 'the mass of humanity'.
>I'm not sure why you have 'humanity' for 1 & 3, but need to change it to
>'the universe' for 2 in between..?
>
>--
>Craig Johnson
>Brisbane, Australia
>Blog Experiment: http://bloggledegook.blogspot.com/
>
>---
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>


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/

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