Re: scope of discussion

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sat Jun 21 1997 - 06:42:56 EDT


At 1:26 AM -0400 6/21/97, Ben Crick wrote:
>
> I was never happy with CH Dodd. I seem to remember in his preface to his
> commentary on Romans saying something like "Sometimes I think St Paul is
> wrong; and where he is wrong, I say so" (p xv???). (I no longer have the
> book, so I can't track down the citation). IMHO we should sit UNDER the
> Scripture in obedience, not OVER it in judgment. Just let's try to understand
> it "as is".

I applaud the final sentence in the above paragraph as one upon which we
can all agree: we can help each other understand the text of the Greek NT
as it stands--or at least as it appears in our widely-variant MS traditions
and more-or-less agreed-upon probable reconstructions. I would urge,
however, that we steer clear of issues of higher criticism upon which there
are distinct and strongly-held opinions of many stripes (no pun intended);
it is issues of that sort that lead to flame wars and deterioration of
dialogue into mutually destructive theological partisanship. It needs to be
remembered that many different faith-stances are represented in this list's
membership, as well as that the list is open to members who profess no
Christian faith at all.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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