[b-trans] [b-greek] Re: John 3:8

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Wed Dec 05 2001 - 09:10:00 EST


At 10:14 AM +0100 12/5/01, Iver Larsen wrote:
>The common translation with English "wind" certainly loses some of the
>intended meaning. It is part of the original background that God sends his
>wind, because it is his breath or spirit. The modern reader thinks of wind
>as inanimate without a will. It does not make much sense to say that the
>wind blows where it wishes to blow. It comes from a high pressure point and
>blows towards a low pressure.
>How can we avoid losing that part of the meaning which says that it is God
>who sends the winds as his messengers just as it is God who sends his Spirit
>where he wants to send it?
>In this connection I noted that Acts 2:2 uses the related word PNOH which is
>a good correspondence to ruach. I went back and changed my translation of
>the dynamic version of the NT into Danish I am working at. It used to talk
>about the sound of a mighty wind, but now it says the sound of a mighty
>"aandepust" which gives the picture of someone great blowing or breathing on
>all who are in the house. This new translation helps the reader to make a
>closer connection to John 20:22.
>For John 3:8 I am considering making explicit that it is God who sends the
>wind and therefore him that decides where it is to go. It is difficult to
>handle the double meaning in translation, so this is one place where a
>footnote is needed.

I think that this has turned into a translation question rather than a
question of Greek, and for that reason perhaps it ought to be moved over to
B-Translation. I'm taking the liberty of doing, without including the
earlier exchanges, but I'll note that the discussion has been about whether
PNEUMA in the verse

> TO PNEUMA hOPOU QELEI PNEI, KAI THN FWNHN AUTOU AKOUEIS,
> ALL' OUK OIDAS POQEN ERCETAI KAI POU hUPAGEI hOUTWS ESTIN
> PAS hO GEGENNHMENOS EK TOU PNEUMATOS.

should be conveyed by "wind" as it commonly is in English versions, or by
some clear designation of the Holy Spirit.

I personally question Iver's notion that common readers of English versions
think in meteorological terms of the wind as "inanimate without a will." I
think we are sufficiently accustomed through traditional children's and
other literature and artistic representations to personify the wind as a
big creature with puffy cheeks--and certainly the notion that the wind has
"a will of its own" is something that anyone who has tried to stay out of
the smoke from an outdoor brush fire by moving to a different point in the
circle will readily believe. So I think that the point Jesus makes that
"the wind blows where it wills" is immediately intelligible; what is NOT
immediately intelligible is that the word PNEUMA is also the word for
Spirit.

I think this is a problem, both of understanding and translation, that we
confront at several points; I know that RUACH ELOHIM in Genesis 1:2 where
LXXX has KAI TO PNEUMA TOU QEOU EPEFERETO EPANW TOU hUDATOS and KJV has
"and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Then there's
Genesis 2:7 KAI ENEFUSHSEN EIS TO PROSWPON AUTOU PNOHN ZWHS KAI EGENETO hO
ANQRWPOS EIS YUCHN ZWSAN -- and its correlate in John 20:22 ... ENEFUSHSEN
KAI LEGEI AUTOIS: "LABETE PNEUMA hAGION." Even in Acts 2:1 the HCOS hWSPER
FEROMENHS PNOHS BIAIAS
doesn't immediately associate in the reader/hearer's mind with Holy Spirit
when the passage is first read/heard. I agree that "wind" for PNEUMA in
John 3:8 is problematic but altering it to "Spirit" is not quite adequate.
The double entendre represents a special problem for the translator.
--

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad@ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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