[B-Greek] RE; John 2:4 TI EMOI KAI SOI

Jeffrey B. Gibson jgibson000 at comcast.net
Tue Feb 23 18:51:52 EST 2010


Vasile STANCU wrote:
> I sometimes have the feeling that, when trying to understand things pertaining to a remote culture in its own patterns, we tend to force that culture to conform the standards of our times - I mean, we seem to be not ready to understand such things unless a convenient equivalent is found in our own culture. The very fact that Jesus addresses his mother with that which we would translate by the English "woman" is proof enough that such a formula was not desrespectful.
The appeal to the fact that Jesus used a term in order to support a 
conclusion that that term did not have certain connotations, rather than 
to examine the way the term was used by Greek speakers in general, seems 
to me to be a very strange, if not  dangerous way to determine what a 
term meant.  It  is based in a certain theological, rather than a 
linguistic consideration, that seems to be a good example of petitio 
principii:

Jesus used a term
Jesus was the epitome of goodness and  would consequently never speak 
disparagingly of anyone, let alone (and especially) of his mother
Therefore the term in question does not (indeed, cannot)  have 
disparaging connotations.

I believe this is called eisegesis.

Jeffrey

-- 
Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon)
1500 W. Pratt Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois
e-mail jgibson000 at comcast.net




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