From: Stephen C Carlson (scarlso1@osf1.gmu.edu)
Date: Mon Apr 22 1996 - 22:00:16 EDT
Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>And now, as I think on screen, another purely speculative ramification of
>Gal 2:10 teases my mind: IF "PTWCOI" should be a designation for the
>missionaries sent to evangelize in accordance with the Missionary Discourse
>parallels in the Synoptic Gospels, which have at least occasionally been
>thought to be post-Easter regulations for missionary work in the primitive
>community, then perhaps the "collection" that Paul conscientiously sought
>from his Gentile congregations was never intended to relieve poverty in the
>Jerusalem church but rather to promote its missionary activities? What
>think ye about that?
While we are engaging in unabashed speculation, I think this proposal has
the additional virtue of explaining the origin of name "Ebionites." In
HE III.27.6, Eusebius says of the Ebionites:
... TOU *EBIWNAIWN ONOMATOS THN THS DIANOIAS PTWXEIAN AUTWN hUPOFAINONTOS:
TAUTHi GAR EPIKLAN hO PTWXOS PAR' *hEBRAIOIS ONOMAZETAI.
"... for the name of Ebionites indicates the poverty of their intelligence,
for this name means 'poor' in Hebrew.[2]" (tr. Kirsopp Lake)
The footnote reads "[2] The word does mean 'poor' in Hebrew; but it not
known why it was applied to the Jewish Christians. One guess is as
good as another."
If PTWXOI did refer to a particular group within Christianity, especially
with connections to the Jewish Christian Jerusalem church, then it would
not be unreasonable to infer that this was the origin for the term based
on the Hebrew equivalent, Ebionite. Eusebius' theory is, of course, out
of line.
Stephen Carlson
-- Stephen C. Carlson, George Mason University School of Law, Patent Track, 4LE scarlso1@osf1.gmu.edu : Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs http://osf1.gmu.edu/~scarlso1/ : chant the words. -- Shujing 2.35
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