Re: "The Stealth Bible Exposed"

From: Nichael Cramer (nichael@sover.net)
Date: Tue Jun 24 1997 - 06:49:59 EDT


Stephen C. Carlson wrote:

> The real issue, of course, is not the meaning of the Greek; that seems
> clear enough in these examples. The real issue, on the other hand, is
> the meaning of the English word "man" and "he." Detailed study of the
> Greek language won't address that vexing problem.
>
> Personally, I'm rather partial to translating ANQRWPOS/ANQRWPOI as
> "person"/"people." The English words "person" and "people" are quite
> common, and I think a good translation should sound like common
> English. In other words, those words should be frequently found in
> translated text. It is less common to use "man" generically (I find
> the connotations of adultness in the term to be stronger than the
> connotations of masculinity), so my opinion of a good translation
> should prefer the more usual to the more stilted.

Exactly so. I think the point often missed here is that this _is_
strictly an issue of translation. And restricting the discussion to
issues of translation, it seems to me that there are only three logically
consistent positions one can take here:

1] That these passages --and vast majority of the NT text-- refer to and
have implications for only men (i.e. male human beings);

2] That one advocate a forced radical literalism (and --setting aside
other problems with this position-- is left to explain why it should be
applied only in these cases);

or

3] That the passages from the NIVI (for example) that have been offered
here, by and large, _do_ offer the correct translation into modern
English.

Nichael Cramer
work: ncramer@bbn.com
home: nichael@sover.net
http://www.sover.net/~nichael/



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