Henry Chadwick
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199246953
- eISBN:
- 9780191600463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246955.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Debates between observant Jews and Jewish Christians about which books of what became the Old Testament could be considered as authoritative continued during the first three centuries of the ...
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Debates between observant Jews and Jewish Christians about which books of what became the Old Testament could be considered as authoritative continued during the first three centuries of the Christian era. Christians could find prophecies in the Greek version of the Septuagint, which they could use to support their views about Jesus and the Virgin Mary. As Christianity moved into the Gentile world, this modified the character of the appeal to ancient Hebrew prophecy, and the dispute would continue for centuries, with local and regional differences long persisting.Less
Debates between observant Jews and Jewish Christians about which books of what became the Old Testament could be considered as authoritative continued during the first three centuries of the Christian era. Christians could find prophecies in the Greek version of the Septuagint, which they could use to support their views about Jesus and the Virgin Mary. As Christianity moved into the Gentile world, this modified the character of the appeal to ancient Hebrew prophecy, and the dispute would continue for centuries, with local and regional differences long persisting.
Helen Kraus
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199600786
- eISBN:
- 9780191731563
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600786.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Church History
This book deals with Bible translation and its development from Antiquity to the Reformation. Taking the Hebrew Masoretic Text of Genesis as Old Testament Vorlage, it examines corresponding verses ...
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This book deals with Bible translation and its development from Antiquity to the Reformation. Taking the Hebrew Masoretic Text of Genesis as Old Testament Vorlage, it examines corresponding verses from five translations: Septuagint, Vulgate, Luther's Bible, Tyndale and the Authorized Version, and the Dutch State Translation. The context is the challenge mounted by feminist scholarship, particularly those scholars of the ‘second wave’, who have tried and convicted Scripture of androcentricity and misogyny. Translated passages in Genesis 1–4 that deal with the male‐female dynamic are subjected to detailed analysis, tracing linguistic and ideological processes and seeking to determine the extent of interaction between contemporary culture and translation. The degree and development of androcentricity in these passages in both Hebrew and translated texts are likewise taken into account. Each chapter dealing with a specific translation consists of two parts: the historical/cultural background of period and translator(s), particularly with regard to women, and a close exegesis of the verses in question. Results point to the Hebrew text revealing significant androcentricity, with the Septuagint, possibly influenced by Greek philosophy, emphasizing the patriarchal elements. This trend persists through the Vulgate and even Luther's Bible — though less so in the English and Dutch versions — and suggests that the translators must be at least partly responsible for an androcentric text becoming the justification for the oppression of women. Each section dealing with textual analysis is sub‐divided into the same groups of verses: male and female (1:26–28), man (2:7,9,15–17), woman (2:18–25), seeing (3:1–13), consequences (3:14–24), generation (4:1–2,17,25).Less
This book deals with Bible translation and its development from Antiquity to the Reformation. Taking the Hebrew Masoretic Text of Genesis as Old Testament Vorlage, it examines corresponding verses from five translations: Septuagint, Vulgate, Luther's Bible, Tyndale and the Authorized Version, and the Dutch State Translation. The context is the challenge mounted by feminist scholarship, particularly those scholars of the ‘second wave’, who have tried and convicted Scripture of androcentricity and misogyny. Translated passages in Genesis 1–4 that deal with the male‐female dynamic are subjected to detailed analysis, tracing linguistic and ideological processes and seeking to determine the extent of interaction between contemporary culture and translation. The degree and development of androcentricity in these passages in both Hebrew and translated texts are likewise taken into account. Each chapter dealing with a specific translation consists of two parts: the historical/cultural background of period and translator(s), particularly with regard to women, and a close exegesis of the verses in question. Results point to the Hebrew text revealing significant androcentricity, with the Septuagint, possibly influenced by Greek philosophy, emphasizing the patriarchal elements. This trend persists through the Vulgate and even Luther's Bible — though less so in the English and Dutch versions — and suggests that the translators must be at least partly responsible for an androcentric text becoming the justification for the oppression of women. Each section dealing with textual analysis is sub‐divided into the same groups of verses: male and female (1:26–28), man (2:7,9,15–17), woman (2:18–25), seeing (3:1–13), consequences (3:14–24), generation (4:1–2,17,25).
Caroline Johnson Hodge
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195182163
- eISBN:
- 9780199785612
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182163.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter proposes a context for interpreting the phrase “in Christ” that would have resonated with Paul's audience: the ideology of patrilineal descent. The same logic which underlies the notion ...
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This chapter proposes a context for interpreting the phrase “in Christ” that would have resonated with Paul's audience: the ideology of patrilineal descent. The same logic which underlies the notion of “coming out of” (ek) your ancestors also shapes the concept of being “in” your ancestors. Indeed, these are two ways of expressing the same relationship: ancestors contain descendants. To understand how “in Christ” fits in with this descent logic, it is instructive to consider the other contexts in which Paul applies a similar concept of being “in” someone: the gentiles are blessed “in” Abraham (Gal 3:8), and true descendants of Abraham are said to be “in” Isaac (Rom 9:7). This chapter discusses a range of texts — Greek, Roman, and Jewish — that maintain similar notions about ancestors and descendants, and then focuses on the Septuagint (Paul's source for this “in” language) and Paul's letters to show how Paul turns this phrase into his own discourse of kinship for gentiles.Less
This chapter proposes a context for interpreting the phrase “in Christ” that would have resonated with Paul's audience: the ideology of patrilineal descent. The same logic which underlies the notion of “coming out of” (ek) your ancestors also shapes the concept of being “in” your ancestors. Indeed, these are two ways of expressing the same relationship: ancestors contain descendants. To understand how “in Christ” fits in with this descent logic, it is instructive to consider the other contexts in which Paul applies a similar concept of being “in” someone: the gentiles are blessed “in” Abraham (Gal 3:8), and true descendants of Abraham are said to be “in” Isaac (Rom 9:7). This chapter discusses a range of texts — Greek, Roman, and Jewish — that maintain similar notions about ancestors and descendants, and then focuses on the Septuagint (Paul's source for this “in” language) and Paul's letters to show how Paul turns this phrase into his own discourse of kinship for gentiles.
H. A. G. Houghton
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199545926
- eISBN:
- 9780191719974
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545926.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Augustine's observations on the history of the early Latin translations constitute the majority of contemporary evidence for these versions. He approved of Jerome's revision of the Gospels and, ...
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Augustine's observations on the history of the early Latin translations constitute the majority of contemporary evidence for these versions. He approved of Jerome's revision of the Gospels and, despite a preference for the Latin version of the Septuagint, used Jerome's translations from the Hebrew. Augustine himself corrected biblical manuscripts, but there is little evidence to suggest that he undertook a systematic revision of the Bible. he also comments on the nature of biblical manuscripts used by his sectarian opponents, especially the Manichees and Donatists.Less
Augustine's observations on the history of the early Latin translations constitute the majority of contemporary evidence for these versions. He approved of Jerome's revision of the Gospels and, despite a preference for the Latin version of the Septuagint, used Jerome's translations from the Hebrew. Augustine himself corrected biblical manuscripts, but there is little evidence to suggest that he undertook a systematic revision of the Bible. he also comments on the nature of biblical manuscripts used by his sectarian opponents, especially the Manichees and Donatists.
Paul Waldau
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195145717
- eISBN:
- 9780199834792
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195145712.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter first addresses claims and terms found in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, such as covenants and “Leviathan.” New Testament references to and views of other animals are then examined. The ...
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This chapter first addresses claims and terms found in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, such as covenants and “Leviathan.” New Testament references to and views of other animals are then examined. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the vocabulary and the views held by major post‐biblical theologians based on an examination of the Greek and Latin words used by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Augustine of Hippo, as well as various words found in the Septuagint and Vulgate.Less
This chapter first addresses claims and terms found in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, such as covenants and “Leviathan.” New Testament references to and views of other animals are then examined. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the vocabulary and the views held by major post‐biblical theologians based on an examination of the Greek and Latin words used by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Augustine of Hippo, as well as various words found in the Septuagint and Vulgate.
Tessa Rajak
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199558674
- eISBN:
- 9780191720895
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558674.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was a major translation in Western culture. This literary and social study is about the ancient creators and receivers of the translations and ...
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The first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was a major translation in Western culture. This literary and social study is about the ancient creators and receivers of the translations and about their impact. The book shows how the Greek Bible served the Jewish diaspora for over half a millennium, providing the foundations of life for a highly text-centred ethnic and religious minority as they fell under the pressures of the powerful imperial cultures of Greece and Rome, and of a dominant, ‘colonial’ language, Greek. Those large communities of the eastern Mediterranean, with their converts and sympathizers, determined the pattern of Jewish existence outside Palestine for centuries. Far from being isolated and inward-looking, they were, we now know, active members of their city environments. Yet they were not wholly assimilated. The book asks exactly how the translations operated as tools for the preservation of group identity and how, even in their language, they offered a quiet cultural resistance. The Greek Bible translations ended up as the Christian Septuagint, taken over along with the entire heritage of the remarkable hybrid culture of Hellenistic Judaism, during the process of the Church's long drawn-out parting from the Synagogue. That transference allowed the recipients to sideline Christianity's original Jewishness and history to be re-written. In this book, history is recovered and a great cultural artifact is restored to its proper place.Less
The first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek was a major translation in Western culture. This literary and social study is about the ancient creators and receivers of the translations and about their impact. The book shows how the Greek Bible served the Jewish diaspora for over half a millennium, providing the foundations of life for a highly text-centred ethnic and religious minority as they fell under the pressures of the powerful imperial cultures of Greece and Rome, and of a dominant, ‘colonial’ language, Greek. Those large communities of the eastern Mediterranean, with their converts and sympathizers, determined the pattern of Jewish existence outside Palestine for centuries. Far from being isolated and inward-looking, they were, we now know, active members of their city environments. Yet they were not wholly assimilated. The book asks exactly how the translations operated as tools for the preservation of group identity and how, even in their language, they offered a quiet cultural resistance. The Greek Bible translations ended up as the Christian Septuagint, taken over along with the entire heritage of the remarkable hybrid culture of Hellenistic Judaism, during the process of the Church's long drawn-out parting from the Synagogue. That transference allowed the recipients to sideline Christianity's original Jewishness and history to be re-written. In this book, history is recovered and a great cultural artifact is restored to its proper place.
David M. Carr
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199742608
- eISBN:
- 9780199918737
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199742608.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This book rethinks both the methods and historical orientation points for research into the growth of the Hebrew Bible. Building on his prior work, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart (Oxford, 2005), ...
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This book rethinks both the methods and historical orientation points for research into the growth of the Hebrew Bible. Building on his prior work, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart (Oxford, 2005), the author explores the possibilities and limits of reconstruction of pre-stages of the Bible. The method advocated is a “methodologically modest” investigation of those pre-stages, utilizing criteria and models derived from the author’s survey of documented examples of textual revision in the Ancient Near East. The result is a new picture of the Bible’s formation, with insights on the emergence of Hebrew literary textuality, the development of the first Hexateuch, and the final formation of the Hebrew Bible. Where some have advocated dating the bulk of the Hebrew Bible in a single period, whether relatively early (Neo-Assyrian) or late (Persian or Hellenistic), the author uncovers evidence that the Hebrew Bible contains texts dating across Israelite history, even the early pre-exilic period (10th-9th centuries) where many recent studies have been hesitant to date substantial portions of the Bible. He traces the impact of Neo-Assyrian imperialism on eighth and seventh century Israelite textuality, uses studies of collective trauma to identify marks of the reshaping and collection of traditions in response to the destruction of Jerusalem and Babylonian exile, develops a picture of varied Priestly reshaping of narrative and prophetic traditions in the Second Temple period, and uses manuscript evidence from Qumran and the Septuagint to reveal the final literary reshaping that produced the proto-Masoretic text.Less
This book rethinks both the methods and historical orientation points for research into the growth of the Hebrew Bible. Building on his prior work, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart (Oxford, 2005), the author explores the possibilities and limits of reconstruction of pre-stages of the Bible. The method advocated is a “methodologically modest” investigation of those pre-stages, utilizing criteria and models derived from the author’s survey of documented examples of textual revision in the Ancient Near East. The result is a new picture of the Bible’s formation, with insights on the emergence of Hebrew literary textuality, the development of the first Hexateuch, and the final formation of the Hebrew Bible. Where some have advocated dating the bulk of the Hebrew Bible in a single period, whether relatively early (Neo-Assyrian) or late (Persian or Hellenistic), the author uncovers evidence that the Hebrew Bible contains texts dating across Israelite history, even the early pre-exilic period (10th-9th centuries) where many recent studies have been hesitant to date substantial portions of the Bible. He traces the impact of Neo-Assyrian imperialism on eighth and seventh century Israelite textuality, uses studies of collective trauma to identify marks of the reshaping and collection of traditions in response to the destruction of Jerusalem and Babylonian exile, develops a picture of varied Priestly reshaping of narrative and prophetic traditions in the Second Temple period, and uses manuscript evidence from Qumran and the Septuagint to reveal the final literary reshaping that produced the proto-Masoretic text.
Helen Kraus
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199600786
- eISBN:
- 9780191731563
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600786.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Church History
This final chapter reviews the study's findings. The translations, particularly the Septuagint, reveal clear allusions to contemporary culture. That said, highly conscientious translators, such as ...
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This final chapter reviews the study's findings. The translations, particularly the Septuagint, reveal clear allusions to contemporary culture. That said, highly conscientious translators, such as the Authorized Version scholars, to some degree redress the balance. However, there remains the question of androcentricity and its corollary, misogyny, that reached its nadir in the witch hunts of the late Middle Ages and beyond. In the Hebrew Bible, androcentricity may point to a pre‐occupation with genetic continuity, but when Semitic masculine tradition meets Hellenistic culture, womanhood undeniably suffers. Reformation and Early Modernity to some extent restore the balance, coinciding with a growing tradition of more precise Bible translation. Nevertheless, Luther's cosmology, where the husband is lord, has only been challenged in recent years.Less
This final chapter reviews the study's findings. The translations, particularly the Septuagint, reveal clear allusions to contemporary culture. That said, highly conscientious translators, such as the Authorized Version scholars, to some degree redress the balance. However, there remains the question of androcentricity and its corollary, misogyny, that reached its nadir in the witch hunts of the late Middle Ages and beyond. In the Hebrew Bible, androcentricity may point to a pre‐occupation with genetic continuity, but when Semitic masculine tradition meets Hellenistic culture, womanhood undeniably suffers. Reformation and Early Modernity to some extent restore the balance, coinciding with a growing tradition of more precise Bible translation. Nevertheless, Luther's cosmology, where the husband is lord, has only been challenged in recent years.
Helen Kraus
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199600786
- eISBN:
- 9780191731563
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600786.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Church History
Greek creation myths, literature and philosophy come under scrutiny, particularly as relating to suggestions of misogyny in ancient Greece. Although Plato seems to favour women, male domination ...
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Greek creation myths, literature and philosophy come under scrutiny, particularly as relating to suggestions of misogyny in ancient Greece. Although Plato seems to favour women, male domination thwarts practical emancipation. Aristotle's views, still less positive, apparently favour a strictly hierarchical relationship. Scholarly consensus regards the Letter of Aristeas (and its androcentric remarks) as a document devised to lend authority to the Septuagint translation by giving details of its procedure. The importance of the LXX itself lies not only in its content or its adoption as the authentic Old Testament by Christianity; its identity as a Jewish/Hellenistic document, devised for Diaspora Jews, makes it important for this study. The LXX also represents the ‘quantum leap’ from Semitic to Indo‐European language, bringing incompatibilities of grammar, syntax and even transliteration. The Greek often attempts to mimic the Hebrew syntax, and inevitably much of the Hebrew word‐play is lost in translation.Less
Greek creation myths, literature and philosophy come under scrutiny, particularly as relating to suggestions of misogyny in ancient Greece. Although Plato seems to favour women, male domination thwarts practical emancipation. Aristotle's views, still less positive, apparently favour a strictly hierarchical relationship. Scholarly consensus regards the Letter of Aristeas (and its androcentric remarks) as a document devised to lend authority to the Septuagint translation by giving details of its procedure. The importance of the LXX itself lies not only in its content or its adoption as the authentic Old Testament by Christianity; its identity as a Jewish/Hellenistic document, devised for Diaspora Jews, makes it important for this study. The LXX also represents the ‘quantum leap’ from Semitic to Indo‐European language, bringing incompatibilities of grammar, syntax and even transliteration. The Greek often attempts to mimic the Hebrew syntax, and inevitably much of the Hebrew word‐play is lost in translation.
Timothy Michael Law
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199781713
- eISBN:
- 9780199345168
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199781713.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This new book narrates in a fresh and exciting way the story of the Septuagint, the Greek Scriptures of the ancient Jewish Diaspora that became the first the Christian Old Testament. Consisting both ...
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This new book narrates in a fresh and exciting way the story of the Septuagint, the Greek Scriptures of the ancient Jewish Diaspora that became the first the Christian Old Testament. Consisting both of translations of the Hebrew Scriptures and further original Greek compositions produced between the third century BCE and the second CE, the Septuagint is a window into a critical stage of the Bible's history, during its final formation and its developing authoritative status. Throughout this period, the Jewish Scriptures existed in a plurality of forms, still growing and being subjected to continual editorial modification, and the Septuagint is often our only surviving witness to this phase of the Bible's history. The Septuagint also became the first Christian Old Testament, being used by the New Testament and early Christian writers. This book illustrates the character of the Greek Septuagint, and the significance of its use by the New Testament writers and early Christian thinkers in the construction of early Christian belief. Providing the Jewish Scriptures which Christians read as preliminary to their story to a Greek-speaking Mediterranean world, the Septuagint helped to transform the early Christian movement from a small, insignificant stream of Judaism, to a tide that would quickly rush over the inhabited world. But what happened to the first Christian Old Testament? Slowly at first but then entirely the Western Church abandoned its first Bible and embraced the Hebrew Bible of the early rabbinic movement. When did the shift to the Hebrew begin, and why?Less
This new book narrates in a fresh and exciting way the story of the Septuagint, the Greek Scriptures of the ancient Jewish Diaspora that became the first the Christian Old Testament. Consisting both of translations of the Hebrew Scriptures and further original Greek compositions produced between the third century BCE and the second CE, the Septuagint is a window into a critical stage of the Bible's history, during its final formation and its developing authoritative status. Throughout this period, the Jewish Scriptures existed in a plurality of forms, still growing and being subjected to continual editorial modification, and the Septuagint is often our only surviving witness to this phase of the Bible's history. The Septuagint also became the first Christian Old Testament, being used by the New Testament and early Christian writers. This book illustrates the character of the Greek Septuagint, and the significance of its use by the New Testament writers and early Christian thinkers in the construction of early Christian belief. Providing the Jewish Scriptures which Christians read as preliminary to their story to a Greek-speaking Mediterranean world, the Septuagint helped to transform the early Christian movement from a small, insignificant stream of Judaism, to a tide that would quickly rush over the inhabited world. But what happened to the first Christian Old Testament? Slowly at first but then entirely the Western Church abandoned its first Bible and embraced the Hebrew Bible of the early rabbinic movement. When did the shift to the Hebrew begin, and why?
T. V. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198270102
- eISBN:
- 9780191683909
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198270102.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The use of aspect, tense, and mood in the Greek Pentateuch represents essentially idiomatic Greek, in accord with the usage of the early Koine vernacular. The evidence of these verbal categories ...
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The use of aspect, tense, and mood in the Greek Pentateuch represents essentially idiomatic Greek, in accord with the usage of the early Koine vernacular. The evidence of these verbal categories contradicts the ‘LXX syntax equals Hebrew syntax’ view, for the Pentateuch at least. This is not to claim that Hebrew interference is entirely absent from these categories. However, apart from a few rather rare functional traits, interference is mainly manifested through the feature of frequency of occurrence. Thus, the Greek Pentateuch — and indeed the entire LXX — is an important witness for the history of the Greek verbal system during the early post-Classical period, when important changes were in progress. The verbal categories of translation Greek documents richly reward the intense scrutiny they have recently begun to attract.Less
The use of aspect, tense, and mood in the Greek Pentateuch represents essentially idiomatic Greek, in accord with the usage of the early Koine vernacular. The evidence of these verbal categories contradicts the ‘LXX syntax equals Hebrew syntax’ view, for the Pentateuch at least. This is not to claim that Hebrew interference is entirely absent from these categories. However, apart from a few rather rare functional traits, interference is mainly manifested through the feature of frequency of occurrence. Thus, the Greek Pentateuch — and indeed the entire LXX — is an important witness for the history of the Greek verbal system during the early post-Classical period, when important changes were in progress. The verbal categories of translation Greek documents richly reward the intense scrutiny they have recently begun to attract.
James Barr
- Published in print:
- 1987
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198263265
- eISBN:
- 9780191682452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198263265.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter presents an essay on the words for love in biblical Greek focusing on the Septuagint (LXX). The noun for love is scarcely found in Greek before the LXX and a common traditional argument ...
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This chapter presents an essay on the words for love in biblical Greek focusing on the Septuagint (LXX). The noun for love is scarcely found in Greek before the LXX and a common traditional argument for this suggested that the word was coined by that version and was thus the supreme example of a word that was developed within the revealed religion. The 20th century emphasis on the Greek noun for love has been primarily theological in character and the opposition between the two kinds of love, eros and agape, was made familiar by Anders Nygren in the 1930s.Less
This chapter presents an essay on the words for love in biblical Greek focusing on the Septuagint (LXX). The noun for love is scarcely found in Greek before the LXX and a common traditional argument for this suggested that the word was coined by that version and was thus the supreme example of a word that was developed within the revealed religion. The 20th century emphasis on the Greek noun for love has been primarily theological in character and the opposition between the two kinds of love, eros and agape, was made familiar by Anders Nygren in the 1930s.
Peter Thacher Lanfer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199926749
- eISBN:
- 9780199950591
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199926749.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This chapter examines one of the central motifs of the expulsion narrative in the history of interpretation: namely the Tree of Life. In addition to discussing the Ancient Near Eastern background, ...
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This chapter examines one of the central motifs of the expulsion narrative in the history of interpretation: namely the Tree of Life. In addition to discussing the Ancient Near Eastern background, iconography, and function of the Tree of Life, this chapter concludes that the Tree of Life is an ideological insertion into the Eden narrative. This chapter proceeds through an analysis of translation texts of Gen 3:22–24 as well as allusions to the Tree of Life including the concepts of the Cosmic/World tree and the “eternal planting,” in which the metaphors of life and blessing provided by the Tree of Life are transferred to the people as a holy community. This analysis of the motif of the Tree of Life in early Jewish and Christian literature affirms the ubiquity of the image, and the importance of the Tree of Life as a representation of God’s presence and promise of blessing.Less
This chapter examines one of the central motifs of the expulsion narrative in the history of interpretation: namely the Tree of Life. In addition to discussing the Ancient Near Eastern background, iconography, and function of the Tree of Life, this chapter concludes that the Tree of Life is an ideological insertion into the Eden narrative. This chapter proceeds through an analysis of translation texts of Gen 3:22–24 as well as allusions to the Tree of Life including the concepts of the Cosmic/World tree and the “eternal planting,” in which the metaphors of life and blessing provided by the Tree of Life are transferred to the people as a holy community. This analysis of the motif of the Tree of Life in early Jewish and Christian literature affirms the ubiquity of the image, and the importance of the Tree of Life as a representation of God’s presence and promise of blessing.
MARK JANSE
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199245062
- eISBN:
- 9780191715129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245062.003.0013
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter contrasts two historical Greek varieties from the perspective of language contact, one ancient and one modern. The two varieties are complete opposites in almost every respect. The ...
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This chapter contrasts two historical Greek varieties from the perspective of language contact, one ancient and one modern. The two varieties are complete opposites in almost every respect. The ancient one is the Septuagint (LXX), the collection of Jewish writings mainly translated from the Hebrew (and in some cases Aramaic) Scriptures, which also includes some original Greek pieces. The modern variety is the Cappadocian Greek dialect which used to be spoken in central Asia Minor until the population exchange between Greece and Turkey following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Hebrew interference in the LXX is due to a translation technique, typical of religious translations, which is at once calqued and word-for-word to produce a mimetic text. As a result, interference is almost limited to lexical and syntactic extension.Less
This chapter contrasts two historical Greek varieties from the perspective of language contact, one ancient and one modern. The two varieties are complete opposites in almost every respect. The ancient one is the Septuagint (LXX), the collection of Jewish writings mainly translated from the Hebrew (and in some cases Aramaic) Scriptures, which also includes some original Greek pieces. The modern variety is the Cappadocian Greek dialect which used to be spoken in central Asia Minor until the population exchange between Greece and Turkey following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Hebrew interference in the LXX is due to a translation technique, typical of religious translations, which is at once calqued and word-for-word to produce a mimetic text. As a result, interference is almost limited to lexical and syntactic extension.
Timothy Michael Law
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199781713
- eISBN:
- 9780199345168
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199781713.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
This chapter discusses the phenomenon of translation in the ancient world, as a prologue to the translation of the Septuagint. While translation of documents was known in the ancient world, between ...
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This chapter discusses the phenomenon of translation in the ancient world, as a prologue to the translation of the Septuagint. While translation of documents was known in the ancient world, between Akkadian and Sumerian, and Greek and Latin, the Septuagint is the most significant attempt to render texts into a new language. The Septuagint was the first translation of religious texts on so grand a scale, and between languages with such fundamental differences. As such, this chapter shows that translation is not a simple transfer of meaning, but the creation of entirely new meanings. The identity of the translators is obscure, and the lack of evidence requires modesty in trying to say something about them and their method.Less
This chapter discusses the phenomenon of translation in the ancient world, as a prologue to the translation of the Septuagint. While translation of documents was known in the ancient world, between Akkadian and Sumerian, and Greek and Latin, the Septuagint is the most significant attempt to render texts into a new language. The Septuagint was the first translation of religious texts on so grand a scale, and between languages with such fundamental differences. As such, this chapter shows that translation is not a simple transfer of meaning, but the creation of entirely new meanings. The identity of the translators is obscure, and the lack of evidence requires modesty in trying to say something about them and their method.
Kathy Gaca
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520235991
- eISBN:
- 9780520929463
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520235991.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This work provides a reassessment of the emergence and nature of Christian sexual morality, the dominant moral paradigm in Western society since late antiquity. While many scholars, including Michel ...
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This work provides a reassessment of the emergence and nature of Christian sexual morality, the dominant moral paradigm in Western society since late antiquity. While many scholars, including Michel Foucault, have found the basis of early Christian sexual restrictions in Greek ethics and political philosophy, the author of this book demonstrates that it is misguided to regard Greek ethics and political theory—with their proposed reforms of eroticism, the family, and civic order—as the foundation of Christian sexual austerity. Rather, she shows that early Christian goals to eradicate fornication were derived from the sexual rules and poetic norms of the Septuagint, or Greek Bible, and that early Christian writers adapted these rules and norms in ways which reveal insights into the distinctive and largely non-philosophical character of Christian sexual morality. Writing with a command of both Greek philosophy and early Christian writings, the author investigates Plato, the Stoics, the Pythagoreans, Philo of Alexandria, the apostle Paul, and the patristic Christians Clement of Alexandria, Tatian, and Epiphanes, elucidating their ideas on sexual reform. Early Christian writers, she demonstrates, transformed all that they borrowed from Greek ethics and political philosophy to launch innovative programs against fornication that were inimical to Greek cultural mores, popular and philosophical alike. The Septuagint's mandate to worship the Lord alone among all gods led to a Christian program to revolutionize Gentile sexual practices.Less
This work provides a reassessment of the emergence and nature of Christian sexual morality, the dominant moral paradigm in Western society since late antiquity. While many scholars, including Michel Foucault, have found the basis of early Christian sexual restrictions in Greek ethics and political philosophy, the author of this book demonstrates that it is misguided to regard Greek ethics and political theory—with their proposed reforms of eroticism, the family, and civic order—as the foundation of Christian sexual austerity. Rather, she shows that early Christian goals to eradicate fornication were derived from the sexual rules and poetic norms of the Septuagint, or Greek Bible, and that early Christian writers adapted these rules and norms in ways which reveal insights into the distinctive and largely non-philosophical character of Christian sexual morality. Writing with a command of both Greek philosophy and early Christian writings, the author investigates Plato, the Stoics, the Pythagoreans, Philo of Alexandria, the apostle Paul, and the patristic Christians Clement of Alexandria, Tatian, and Epiphanes, elucidating their ideas on sexual reform. Early Christian writers, she demonstrates, transformed all that they borrowed from Greek ethics and political philosophy to launch innovative programs against fornication that were inimical to Greek cultural mores, popular and philosophical alike. The Septuagint's mandate to worship the Lord alone among all gods led to a Christian program to revolutionize Gentile sexual practices.
Kathy L. Gaca
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520235991
- eISBN:
- 9780520929463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520235991.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter examines fornication and other forms of sexual rebellion against God in the Septuagint and Paul, and the sexual behavior that they designate as safe and permissible. It also investigates ...
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This chapter examines fornication and other forms of sexual rebellion against God in the Septuagint and Paul, and the sexual behavior that they designate as safe and permissible. It also investigates why Paul and his supporters have for centuries been urging Christians to run from the Thing like deer from all-consuming flames. The chapter provides an account of the religious sexual principles that Paul, Tatian, and Clement advocate from Septuagint and leave as their legacy for Christianized society to contend with. The Septuagint prescribes two measures to remove the danger of syncretistic marriage from the midst of the Lord's people. Paul upholds the Septuagint principle of religious endogamy and its strict protectionism, though he imparts an inchoate Christian direction to it. The Septuagint Pentateuch offers a potent but morally problematic rationale for eliciting compliance with the First Commandment and its corollary of biblical endogamy across generations.Less
This chapter examines fornication and other forms of sexual rebellion against God in the Septuagint and Paul, and the sexual behavior that they designate as safe and permissible. It also investigates why Paul and his supporters have for centuries been urging Christians to run from the Thing like deer from all-consuming flames. The chapter provides an account of the religious sexual principles that Paul, Tatian, and Clement advocate from Septuagint and leave as their legacy for Christianized society to contend with. The Septuagint prescribes two measures to remove the danger of syncretistic marriage from the midst of the Lord's people. Paul upholds the Septuagint principle of religious endogamy and its strict protectionism, though he imparts an inchoate Christian direction to it. The Septuagint Pentateuch offers a potent but morally problematic rationale for eliciting compliance with the First Commandment and its corollary of biblical endogamy across generations.
Kathy L. Gaca
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520235991
- eISBN:
- 9780520929463
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520235991.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter addresses the conversion of whore culture into the Lord's veiled bride. The metaphor of spiritual fornication informs what it means to identify women as “harlots” or “whores” in the ...
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This chapter addresses the conversion of whore culture into the Lord's veiled bride. The metaphor of spiritual fornication informs what it means to identify women as “harlots” or “whores” in the Septuagint. The biblical figure of the whore is an integral and potent feature of the Septuagint metaphor of spiritual fornication. Paul's use of the biblical harlot stereotype is discussed. The metaphor of spiritual adultery in the Prophets offers a more emotively forceful approach to inculcating the norm of biblical monotheism. The sexually possessive message of the Prophets' metaphor had a profound impact on Paul, who transformed the breadth and sexual specificity of the teaching in his development of Christian sexual morality. The Prophets shape Paul's view that God's people are a collective feminine entity whose greatest glory is to be joined in holy matrimony with God as supreme male deity.Less
This chapter addresses the conversion of whore culture into the Lord's veiled bride. The metaphor of spiritual fornication informs what it means to identify women as “harlots” or “whores” in the Septuagint. The biblical figure of the whore is an integral and potent feature of the Septuagint metaphor of spiritual fornication. Paul's use of the biblical harlot stereotype is discussed. The metaphor of spiritual adultery in the Prophets offers a more emotively forceful approach to inculcating the norm of biblical monotheism. The sexually possessive message of the Prophets' metaphor had a profound impact on Paul, who transformed the breadth and sexual specificity of the teaching in his development of Christian sexual morality. The Prophets shape Paul's view that God's people are a collective feminine entity whose greatest glory is to be joined in holy matrimony with God as supreme male deity.
Sara Raup Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233072
- eISBN:
- 9780520928435
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233072.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Any study of the Jewish texts that purport to be historical must survive as independent, self-contained narratives in or associated with the manuscripts of the Septuagint. All purport to give an ...
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Any study of the Jewish texts that purport to be historical must survive as independent, self-contained narratives in or associated with the manuscripts of the Septuagint. All purport to give an authentic account of some incident in Jewish history, yet are so compounded with elements of the fantastic that the basic historicity of the events they report has been generally rejected. These texts include four composed originally in Hebrew or Aramaic and later translated into Greek—Esther, Daniel, Judith, and Tobit—and three analogous texts originally composed in Greek, the Letter of Aristeas, Second Maccabees, and Third Maccabees. All are in some sense variations on the so-called court narrative—that is, a self-contained narrative focusing on the relationship between at least one prominent Jew and a foreign king, in which the Jewish hero inevitably emerges triumphant and the foreign king is humbled by or is reconciled with the hero, or both.Less
Any study of the Jewish texts that purport to be historical must survive as independent, self-contained narratives in or associated with the manuscripts of the Septuagint. All purport to give an authentic account of some incident in Jewish history, yet are so compounded with elements of the fantastic that the basic historicity of the events they report has been generally rejected. These texts include four composed originally in Hebrew or Aramaic and later translated into Greek—Esther, Daniel, Judith, and Tobit—and three analogous texts originally composed in Greek, the Letter of Aristeas, Second Maccabees, and Third Maccabees. All are in some sense variations on the so-called court narrative—that is, a self-contained narrative focusing on the relationship between at least one prominent Jew and a foreign king, in which the Jewish hero inevitably emerges triumphant and the foreign king is humbled by or is reconciled with the hero, or both.
Sara Raup Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233072
- eISBN:
- 9780520928435
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233072.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Artapanus intentionally suggests that his work is a sober piece of Hellenistic historiography relying upon the ancient traditions preserved in Genesis and Exodus. It contains many detailed allusions ...
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Artapanus intentionally suggests that his work is a sober piece of Hellenistic historiography relying upon the ancient traditions preserved in Genesis and Exodus. It contains many detailed allusions both to its ultimate source, the Septuagint text, and to the Greek historical tradition within which Artapanus was ostensibly working. Each of the fragments of Artapanus takes its starting point from the biblical narrative. Moreover, close verbal echoes of the Septuagint text make it apparent that Artapanus not only used the Greek text of the Bible as his primary source but sought to remind that text in the mind of his audience. Artapanus is careful to invoke elements of the Greek historiographical tradition whenever possible. His title and scope are characteristic of Hellenistic scholarly works seeing to frame a non-Greek historical tradition in terms familiar to an educated Greek-speaking audience.Less
Artapanus intentionally suggests that his work is a sober piece of Hellenistic historiography relying upon the ancient traditions preserved in Genesis and Exodus. It contains many detailed allusions both to its ultimate source, the Septuagint text, and to the Greek historical tradition within which Artapanus was ostensibly working. Each of the fragments of Artapanus takes its starting point from the biblical narrative. Moreover, close verbal echoes of the Septuagint text make it apparent that Artapanus not only used the Greek text of the Bible as his primary source but sought to remind that text in the mind of his audience. Artapanus is careful to invoke elements of the Greek historiographical tradition whenever possible. His title and scope are characteristic of Hellenistic scholarly works seeing to frame a non-Greek historical tradition in terms familiar to an educated Greek-speaking audience.
