God as the Φωστήρ of the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21:11

Semantic Range, Lexicography, and other approaches to word meaning - in general, or for particular words.
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jwmealy
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Joined: October 26th, 2011, 2:37 pm

God as the Φωστήρ of the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21:11

Post by jwmealy »

This is a resubmit. I couldn't get the original link to the paper to work with Greek in it so I've simplified the link and it works. Let me know if problems.

I have just completed a draft of an article entitled "God as the Φωστήρ of the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21:11," which I'd love people's feedback on. I hope to publish it in Biblical Interpretation unless someone persuades me another journal would be a better venue. I show that φωστήρ always means luminary, not radiance or brilliance or something like that, and that all English translations mistranslate φωστήρ in Rev. 21.11 as "her radiance" or something similar. (The older rendering "her light" really does not work because in contemporary English it means the light that comes from her, not the light source that shines on her.) This article straightens out the erroneous translation, which leads to new insights about the nature of the last judgment in Revelation and the Bible.

I am aware that I am contradicting LSJ and BAGD. They are incorrect. On the basis of this article, I hope that future lexicons will change their entries so that there is only one meaning for φωστήρ. I exegete every ancient text for which they (and other authoritative lexicons) claim a meaning like "radiance," and I show that the latter meaning does not fit well at all, let alone fitting better than the meaning "luminary," which fits perfectly.

https://simplegospel.com/docs/Mealy_Rev21.11Paper.docx

Please comment only if you have read the piece.

Thanks!

J. Webb Mealy, PhD
(Biblical Studies, Sheffield)
Author of After the Thousand Years: Resurrection and Judgment in Revelation 20 (JSNTSup, 70; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992; repr. Amazon 2019).
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