[B-Greek] Help Translating John 1:18
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Tue Jul 8 07:03:14 EDT 2008
On Jul 7, 2008, at 8:58 PM, tempest at sunsetgrfx.com wrote:
>
>
> I'm helping to edit a new edition of the Gospel of John. Neither of
> us, (the editor nor me) actually read Greek, but I seriously want to
> learn it and am ever so slowing working on it. We use greek
> dictionaries, concordances and Barry's interlinear when we find
> something "fishy" and I go over it all comparing it word for word to
> Barry's Interlinear.
I am a bit puzzled -- and not a little skeptical -- about an "edition"
of the Gospel of John put together by people apparently using the
project as a means of learning Greek through dictionaries,
concordances and interlinear translation rather than in the old-
fashioned way of language acquisition. Do you mean an EDITION of the
Greek text, or do you really mean a TRANSLATION of the Greek text?
I know it's not a popular notion, but I continue to espouse the
principle that the primary task in confronting the Greek NT (or any
other Greek text, for that matter) is not TRANSLATING it, but
UNDERSTANDING it on its own terms. Translation is an art (not a
science) that requires skills that are really quite different from
those of reading for understanding. I have often thought that much
traditional pedagogy of Biblical Greek has been founded on the basis
of a notion that producing a translation of the Greek text is the
consummation of the learning process and that production of a
translation is a demonstration that one has understood the Greek text.
But a critique of the accuracy of a translation depends upon an
understanding of the Greek text -- it's not identical with the
understanding.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
> T he editor translated John 1:18 as follows:
> "The Only Son coming from God, Who no one has seen at anytime, is in
> the Bosom of the Father He declared." At first I strongly believed
> this to be wrong. Now I'm having second thoughts. I tried looking up
> all the words I could, and deeply thought about the endings of the
> words, but I'm just not sure now. Looking at the Greek text, it looks
> so wrong. It sounds great, but I really want it to be accurate, as
> does the editor (L.W.). The Greek text I'm using states it as follows
> (in B-Greek's lettering system): "QEON OUDEIS hEWRAKEN PWPOTE hO
> MONOGENHS hUIOS hO WN EIS TON KOLPON TOU PATROS EKEINOS EXHGHSATO" If
> anyone could help me figure out if the above (the english one) is an
> accurate literal translation, and /or give an accurate literal
> alternative, I would be very appreciative, as it could very well
> relieve a huge burden from me. I'm especially interested in the order
> of the first line, "The Only Son coming from God", because (and this
> is what caused my "second thought") that "hO MONOGENHS hUIOS" has
> subject endings, and "QEON" has object endings. Though not as
> seemingly important to me right now, "MONOGENHS" being translated as
> "only coming from" has always seemed strange to me. Thank you all. I
> pray GodJesus blesses you all in furthering and learning His Word
> (HIM). Love. - Nichole Boseck
> ---
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