On Mon, 2002-01-28 at 14:02, Jim Crouch wrote: > MH EGKATALEIPONTES THN EPISUNAGOGHN hAUTWN > > By using the definite article (THN EPISUNAGOGHN), does the writer indicate > that he has a specific assembly in mind, one with which his readers would > be familiar? > FWIW: I've taken this to be "the gathering of yourselves together" which then, in this context, doesn't quite refer to the commonly held interpretation of attending meetings. Starting in vs 19 there are other words which signify a movement from within a broad group toward a single locus point: "enter the Most Holy Place" (THN EISODON...) and "draw near" (PROSERCWMEQA). So there are lexically cohesive ties which suggest something other than meeting attendance. They suggest movement from somewhere out there to this fixed point that the author has been talking about. For this, and other reasons dealing with the flow of argument in the text (the genre is exhortative and focused on generating belief in Christ), I tend to think that the "gathering together" did not have to do with attending meetings, but had to do with being gathered together to Christ. So, to answer your specific question, no, the article does NOT refer to a specific assembly since EPISUNAGOGHN does not refer to an assembly generally considered. But the article should be thought of as making EPISUNAGOGHN point to the very thing the author has been talking about all along. "THIS gathering together" is too strong, but perhaps brings out the force a little better. At least, the force as I see it. -- Mike Sangrey msangrey@BlueFeltHat.org Landisburg, Pa. "The first one last wins." "A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth." --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu