[B-Greek] Was there any word for ...
John Benson
johncbenson at gmail.com
Mon Oct 25 19:51:54 EDT 2010
Thanks for the reply.
Although the question was not strictly limited to behavior, given the
qualifiers of mutual, consenting, and non-exploitive, it was my
intention to emphasize behavioral qualities that might be quickly
observable or discernible, rather than feelings.
Maybe it would have been clearer to say: consenting adults, without
any bribe or coercion.
With appreciation,
John
On 10/25/10, Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:
> On Oct 25, 2010, at 12:18 AM, John Benson wrote:
>> Please forgive me if this topic has already been worn out here, but I am
>> fairly new and working on a paper.
>>
>> Was there any Greek word in the biblical world that could have been used
>> (whether it got into the bible or not) to name any male-male, adult-adult,
>> mutually consenting non-exploitive sexual activity? There seem to be a
>> plethora of words that do *not* quite have that meaning, because of
>> indicating adult-youth, or master-slave, or otherwise exploitive or
>> coerced.
>>
>>
>> Replies by email rather than posted to the whole list would be just fine.
>> All I want is a little scholarly help.
>>
>> Thanks for your kind attention.
>
> I've been reflecting on this question from time to time repeatedly since
> I first read it earlier this morning. It's a strange question, reminding me
> a bit of Aristotle's reference in the Nicomachean Ethics to virtues and
> vices (whether of excess or deficiency) that are recognizable in human
> behavior but for which, he says, there isn't any regular Greek noun
> referring
> to it.
>
> The one qualifier that seems to me to put the kibosh on the effort to find
> the word you're looking for is not so much the "male-male"factor as the
> "sexual" factor. It's commonly said (probably too often) that Greek uses
> different words for sexual attraction (ἔρως, ERWS), kindred feeling
> (φιλία FILIA), and ἀγάπη AGAPH, which BDAG defines as "the quality
> of warm regard for and interest in another, esteem, affection, regard,
> love (without limitation to very intimate relationships, and very seldom
> in general Greek of sexual attraction)." I know that we've had recurrent
> disputes in this forum over whether or not the alternation between the
> verbs AGAPAN and FILEIN in John 21 is really significant, in the
> course of which disputes it's been noted that both verbs are found in other
> GNT texts where one might expect the other one instead.
>
> It is said -- as BDAG says indeed -- that AGAPH is not ordinarily used
> in Greek of sexual attraction. And that seems to be true even of such
> texts as Eph. 5:25 Οἱ ἄνδρες, ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας, καθὼς
> καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ... , for there the exhortation
> to husbands really does not seem to focus on sexual preference.
>
> All of which having been said, I personally continue to suppose that
> AGAPH as Paul characterizes it in 1 Cor 13 is the term par excellence
> for unselfish and non-exploitative affection. 1 Cor 13 is often read
> at weddings, and in fact I read my own version of it at my daughter's
> wedding at her request, although I don't think that the focus of the
> original is on marital love at all. And so, leaving aside all questions
> of the propriety of male-male, female-female, or male-female sexual
> relationship, I would still think that AGAPH is the proper word -- in
> the Christian tradition, at least -- for a profound mutual non-exploitative
> loving commitment of one person for another whether or not that
> commitment has a sexual expression.
>
>
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>
>
>
>
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