[B-Greek] DIA phrase with an infinitive
Ian W. Scott
iscott at tyndale.ca
Fri Jun 19 10:36:02 EDT 2009
Hi Iver,
This is actually just tightening up a footnote for a paper that's
forthcoming in JSJ on the idea of "inspiration" in Aristeas. I'm arguing
that God's involvement in the law's composition is, in Aristeas, very
indirect. There is no dictation, even of the decalogue. Rather God has
gifted Moses with a prodigious intellect and at that point God's
involvement ended. The actual contents of Torah are, for the author of
Aristeas, a human achievement. But since all reason is a reflection of
the divine NOUS, there is still a sense in which God is it's author. All
of this is quite explicit in Eleazar's speech on the law, among other
places. God is never named as NOMOQETHS in the book, but Moses is in
many places. The Sinai event is conspicuously absent from the whole
discussion. The reason Demetrius' statement in 313 is so important is
that the clause in question is usually taken as a straightforward
statement that God is the law's author. I'm arguing that the
construction is actually deliberately vague, fitting the kind of
indirect inspiration that is explicitly described elsewhere in the book.
In short, Aristeas goes further than does Philo in the direction of a
Hellenistic rationalization of Torah. If you're interested you're
welcome to read a pre-pub copy.
Cheers,
Ian
> It is not clear to me what you mean by "directly authored" or
> "directly responsible".
>
> Have you looked at the various occurrences of NOMOQETHS in this letter
> and other relevant literature? I don't see a problem with both God
> (cf. Jas 4.12) and Moses being described as the lawgiver, each with
> their own contribution. However, I do see a problem if you want to
> exclude either God or Moses from the giving/producing of the Mosaic law.
>
> Iver Larsen
--
Ian W. Scott
Assistant Professor of New Testament
Tyndale Seminary
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
iscott at tyndale.ca <mailto:iscott at tyndale.ca>
http://www.ian-w-scott.com
===================================================
/Paul's Way of Knowing: Story, Experience and the Spirit /(WUNT II.206;
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008).
<http://www.tyndale.ca/%7Eiscott/blog/essays-and-articles/>
===================================================
/The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha/ (Atlanta: SBL, 2006-). Online:
http://www.purl.org/net/ocp
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