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

Vasile STANCU stancu at mail.dnttm.ro
Wed Feb 24 03:05:02 EST 2010


This is just another example in the biblical text where I personally had
absolutely no question regarding the meaning of a phrase when I read it the
very first time; questions appeared later, when other people expressed
certain concern. In this particular example, I understood the GUNAI used by
Jesus just normal, natural. The fact is that I have under my eyes two
cultures that are almost as far from each other as ancient Greek culture is
far from today's Western civilisation. My parents used to be examples of
perfect family harmony by any standards, but it was quite normal in our
small remote mountain village that my father would address my mother in a
way (Romanian: "Tu, muiere!") that would be equivalent to the English
"You/hey, woman!". And that was really tender - when meant to be tender;
that phrase was common and normal for everybody and still is in the village
today (with older generations anyway). However, if I addressed my wife the
same way today, it would be considered rude in the cultural setting where we
live today.

Vasile Stancu

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey B. Gibson [mailto:jgibson000 at comcast.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 1:52 AM
To: Vasile STANCU
Cc: 'Blue Meeksbay'; 'Gene Cockerham'; b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] RE; John 2:4 TI EMOI KAI SOI

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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