Romans 1:17

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Aug 6 23:55:15 EDT 2002


At 6:15 PM -0400 8/6/02, Paul Toseland wrote:
>EK PISTEWS EIS PISTIN
>
>On Aug 5 2002 Carl Conrad wrote,
>
>>The principal threads on this topic are to be found in
>>Feb 1996, July 1996,February 1997, and August 1999.
>
>>I won't try to specify the dates more narrowly nor point
>>to the other brief and sporadic discussions of this
>>verse and problem.
>
>
>Thanks, Carl, it has been interesting reviewing these
> posts. However, in respect of the phrase EK PISTEWS
>EIS PISTIN, no firm conclusions were reached; the
>construction remained a mystery.
>
>One of the sporadic discussions, contributed by Wayne
>Leman on Oct 28 2002, cited a biref paper in 'The Bible
>Translator' which surely throws some light:
>
>Benware, W. A. 'Romans 1:17 and Cognitive Grammar',
>BT 51 (2000) 330-40.

Well, Paul, you have already had Jeffrey Gibson's response calling
attention to Dunn's discussion of the problem. My own comment is in
response to your note above, "no firm conclusions were reached, the
construction remained a mystery." For my part, I am delighted when I see a
clear consensus arrived at in the course of a discussion of a textual
problem in this forum, but I think that for many Biblical Greek texts what
you found to be the case regarding BG discussions of Rom 1:17 is by no
means uncommon: the problem is aired, alternatives are discussed, some of
them are argued and shown to be more cogent than others, yet no "firm
conclusion" is reached. It's not that we suppose the author didn't know
what he/she was writing or intended to be mysterious; it's simply that we
can't reach a consensus regarding that meaning amongst ourselves. I
personally think it is often the best we can achieve in this forum to raise
and air the issues involved in Biblical Greek texts; any particular
accounting of a text must win acceptance among any who do accept it by
virtue of its own cogency.

Please note that I am NOT stating a hermeneutical proposition here; I am
only stating an observation about what has happened and does happen in our
very earnest discussions in this forum.
-- 

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



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