[B-Greek] FW: PNEUMATI THEOU: Meaning of Genitive
Jerry Reimer
Jerry at lsm.org
Wed Apr 18 17:38:15 EDT 2007
-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Reimer
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 1:14 PM
To: 'Deborah Millier'
Subject: RE: [B-Greek] PNEUMATI THEOU: Meaning of Genitive
Deborah,
Yes, a search for context clues and informed consensus are valuable assets when attempting to trim off some of the internal nuance options so as to increase accuracy chances (not to mention mitigating the final decision trauma that every individual translator or committee endures). It seems that even the Greeks themselves, in the interest of greater clarity, deliberately inserted some clues (prepositions, for one example) whereas, in former days, an unqualified and often ambiguous genitive was the only thing there. Caragounis and Zerwick (and probably others) point out this analytical tendency in the Greek language (probably in all languages; I am not a linguist) which has impacted the NT to some extent. Needless to say, I am very much interested in this kind of diachronic (if that is the right word) development because it touches exegesis.
Thanks for your helpful communication.
Jerry Reimer
-----Original Message-----
From: Deborah Millier [mailto:deborahmillier at yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 11:45 AM
To: Jerry Reimer
Subject: RE: [B-Greek] PNEUMATI THEOU: Meaning of Genitive
Hi Jerry R.
You wrote:
> I think my point was that
> there is no mark (inflection,
> form, letters, special suffixes
> or whatever morphological label
> one might use) to identify the
> nuance and that all that can be
> determined by form is that it
> is a genitive case word.
Agreed.
> It is difficult to see that
> the exegete who, having identified
> the form, does not move into some
> kind of subjectivity so as to
> eventually settle on a particular
> nuance.
An operating presupposition may be shared with a group
and therefore not be entirely, or even primarily
subjective. I agree that nuancing can be murky waters,
but it is not whimsical. Context clues keep
person-to-person communication possible...as we are
doing now. In the same way, context clues help control
which nuance one assigns to a genitive in whichever
context. That is not so subjective that second and
third (plus) parties to the procedure couldn't follow
and agree upon the nuance(s). This truth is at the
heart of linguistic mapping, or semantic-linguistic
analysis, used by Bible Translators worldwide.
However, my point in writing to B-Greek was not to
discuss matters too far removed from PNEUMATI THEOU,
but to clarify things specifically related to the
genitive usage in that phrase. Laurence (and now
George S...if I understand him correctly), is arguing
that it is legitimate to understand a genitive thus:
(Y of X) = (Y = X) (E.g PNEUMATI THEOU [in a given NT
context may...] = TON THEON).
I say that since the basic logic of the genitive is "Y
*of* X" that Y cannot be exactly equivalent to X.
"Spirit of God" cannot mean that the Spirit of God is
the exact same Entity to Whom the Spirit is related
somehow. "Spirit of God" cannot logically be the "God
of the Spirit." This is not a denial of the Spirit's
Deity (I am a theological Trinitarian), but pays
homage to the distinctions made by the genitive case
itself. Even in Wallace's biblical examples of Greek
"genitives of apposition" Y and X were not exactly
equivalent.
So I remain stuck on these logical matters and fear
that neither Laurence nor George are discerning an
important aspect of what the genitive case signifies.
But then again, although I have a degree in Bible
Translation, and some linguistics training, I am not a
Greek specialist or I wouldn't be asking for help from
B-Greek members.
"Only he who cries out for the Jews may sing Gregorian chants."
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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