[B-Greek] PISTIS XRISTOU
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Nov 22 06:01:19 EST 2009
On Nov 22, 2009, at 12:34 AM, James Spinti wrote:
> I have received a few off-list questions on what a genitive of source is in this construction and how to translate it, so let me quote from the book, pages 7-8:
> "[Mark Seifrid] argues that the expression describes Christ as the author and source of faith. In an attempt to lend grammatical precision to earlier proposals, he claims that the phrase PISTIS XRISTOU is not best described as bearing either a 'subjective' or 'objective' genitive (which presuppose a purely verbal noun). Rather, he says, it is more helpful to describe it in terms of categories such as quality, source, and possession that are associated with a nominal sense of PISTIS. He proceeds to give examples from Josephus, Philo, Ignatius, and Acts that illustrate this very point. Seifrid argues for the anticipation of the concept in Romans 1:17 where faith has its source in the faithfulness of God. He understands Romans 3:26 to indicate that God justifies the one who has the faith that comes from Jesus Christ."
>
> I hope that helps explain it.
>
> James
Well, this just calls for one of my "ad nauseam" remarks that I've tried not to indulge too much of late. The adnominal genitive is a structural category, not a semantic one; it does nothing more than indicate some connectIon between a noun (here PISTIS) and another noun (here CRISTOU). All the multiple terminological variants attempting to delimit the usage to one semantic force or another are interpretative, depending upon how one reads the contextual elements -- which all too often don't really give much of a clue and lead to much shaking of the head, guesswork, and, I fear, eisegesis. I would prefer one of Wallace's somewhat whimsical but very useful term, "aporetic genitive" for the sort of genitive that leaves you shaking your head, and guessing ...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Spinti
> Sent: Fri 11/20/2009 11:51 PM
> To: B-greek list
> Subject: PISTIS XRISTOU
>
> I know that over the years, there have been numerous discussions on the list as to what kind of genitive XRISTOU is in Galatians 2:20. Hendrickson recently co-published with Paternoster a book on the proceedings of an SBL session in San Diego on this very subject. If you are at SBL, I encourage you to pick it up and look it over at the Hendrickson booth. It covers just about every possible option, each one presented by a top-notch scholar. The title of the book is:
> The Faith of Jesus Christ: Exegetical, Biblical, and Theological Studies
> Edited by Michael Bird and Preston M. Sprinkle
>
> I started reading it last night and am impressed by the quality of the book and the breadth of options. I was pleased to see that there was an article defending my favored option of genitive of source.
>
>> From SBL in New Orleans,
> James
>From OnTheRoad in Lebanon, Tn
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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