Re: (To Carl) Two routes to the passive voice

From: Will Wagers (hyle@airmail.net)
Date: Sat Apr 17 1999 - 13:16:02 EDT


Jim West writes:

>This would be true except for one major problem: the writers of the NT are,
>so far as we know it, Jews (except of course "Luke").

We don't really *know* very much, do we?

>The notion that Jews writing in Greek would have adopted Greek thought
>patterns does not really seem to hold water. They would have used Greek- to
>communicate Hebrew thought- and theres the rub. The Greek verb may be
>middle/passive in form, but it would be a rare thing indeed for a Hebrew
>thinker to use a Greek thought and make use of a form that had no place,
>really, in their theology.

Greek thought was even more pervasive than Greek language, "conquering"
as it did the entire Western world, and lately, the Eastern. And, the
absorption
of Greek ideas into Jewish philosophy and theology is well documented. The
notion that Christianity was immune to syncretism instead of being the
product of it is an ancient Church predjudice and untenable.

What doesn't hold water is the notion that a subculture can avoid absorbing
ideas from the dominant culture--something which Judaism has done
throughout its history, as has any ancient philosophy which survives.

Will Wagers hyle@gte.net "Reality is the best metaphor."

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