[B-Greek] Titus 1:12-13

Ken Penner kpenner at stfx.ca
Thu Dec 10 08:14:44 EST 2009


On Dec 9, 2009, at 5:34 PM, George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Who says that "Paul" didn't consider Epimenides to be a "biblical"  
> prophet (or equivalent)?  He (whoever he may have been -- certainly  
> not Paul) simply calls him a prophet.  

He doesn't "simply" call him "A prophet". He calls him TIS EC AUTWN IDIOS AUTWN PROFHTHS τις ἐξ αὐτῶν ἴδιος αὐτῶν προφήτης, with the repeated AUTWN.

In my essay on citation formulae, I find that "the quotations from Epimenides in Titus, Aratus in Acts, and Plato and Homer in Philo and Justin Martyr are introduced with formulae that dissociate their origin from the Judeo-Christian God, usually by simply mentioning the human author." This is in contrast to the formulae used to quote undisputed biblical texts: “it is written,” “as a prophet says,” “the scripture says,” which indicate the divine origin or scriptural status of writings quoted by early Christian and Jewish authors.

http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=157502&SntUrl=142093


Ken M. Penner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
St. Francis Xavier University
Antigonish, NS
(902)867-2265
kpenner at stfx.ca
http://people.stfx.ca/kpenner 





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