[b-greek] Re: Son of Man

From: clayton stirling bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Wed Aug 16 2000 - 17:56:41 EDT


on 08/16/00 12:50 PM, Mike Sangrey wrote:

> Would someone be so kind as to do a TLG query of [hO] hUIOS [hO] ANQRWPOS?
> I've used the nominative case, but I certainly would not want to limit it to
> that. I suppose ANQRWPOS could (should) be genitive if that has any bearing
> on the query.

Why the TLG? This isn't going to get you what you are looking for.

J. A. Fitzmyer, S.J. has some things to say on this topic. In his book "The
Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins, Eerdmans 2000, page 34 he states:

>>>>
The titular use of "Son of Man," such as one finds for Jesus in the NT, is
still without a parallel in the Qumran texts, even thought there are
instances of the Aramaic phrase bar 'enas used both in a generic sense
"human being" (11QtgJob 9:9; 26:2-3) and in an indefinite sense, "someone"
(or, in a negative sense, "no one"," 1QapGen 21:13). Little light, then, is
shed from the Qumran evidence on this phrase as a christiological title in
the NT.
>>>>end quote>>>

J. A. Fitzmyer again in his "The Semitic Background of the NT" book two page
145, he states:

>>>>
Because the peculiar Greek arthrous phrase hO hUIOS hO ANQRWPOS is
otherwise unattested in non-Christian writings prior to the NT and the
semitic-looking anarthrous phrase hUIOS ANQRWPOU, is related to it, NT
interpreters have looked to a Hebrew or Aramaic background for the
expression.
>>>end quote>>>

Fitzmyer's statements are born out in J. D. G. Dunn's "The Beginnings of
Christianity," 2nd ed. Eerdmans 1989, pages 65-98. Dunn devotes a whole
chapter to background of the hO hUIOS hO ANQRWPOS. The discussion is almost
exclusively about Daniel, Enoch, and other OT and Jewish sources. I didn't
see any parallels cited from non-Jewish and pre-Christian Greek sources.
Perhaps I missed one somewhere, I scanned it quickly.

The point I am making is that TLG is not the place where you are going to
find useful information on hO hUIOS hO ANQRWPOS

--
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062



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