RE: Pronouns in John 1:1 and 1 John 1:1-4

From: Stevens, Charles C (Charles.Stevens@unisys.com)
Date: Wed Dec 29 1999 - 12:48:36 EST


On 24 December 1999 at 12:00PM, .Steven Craig Miller wrote:

<< The Jewish Publication society translates the beginning of Genesis
differently than most Christian translations, they give:

<< When God began to create heaven and earth -- the earth being unformed
and void ... >>

<snip>

If one were to take the JPS and the commentary by the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations as presenting one Jewish POV, then the LXX translation
must represent a different Jewish POV.>>

"The New Jerome Biblical Commentary" article on Genesis 1:1 takes a similar
position, further commenting that the usual English translation "In the
beginning ..." (from memory, now; my printed copy is at home:) was "while
traditional since at least the 2nd century BC as evidenced in the LXX, is
unlikely" based on parallel passages and similar usages elsewhere in the OT.

Point being, this is not an exclusively *Jewish* perspective; the NJBC bears
both imprimatur and nihil obstat.

I for one have no doubt whatever that John 1:1ff is a conscious reflection
of LXX Gen 1:1ff, but I don't hold that that means we should interpret Gen
1:1ff in any particular way.

<<The Jewish position appears to be that there was already an
earth before God began to create. >>

No, I don't see that as being required by the Hebrew. "The earth [whose
creation was being begun] being without form and void [until the details and
differentiations subsequently described herein were brought into being] "
strikes me as supportable.

The verb forms in the Hebrew of this portion of Genesis strike me as being a
particularly fascinating study. But that, of course, is off-topic for this
list (except perhaps insofar as the LXX reflects, or fails to reflect, those
verb forms).

        -Chuck Stevens

---
B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek
You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu]
To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu
To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:40:52 EDT