Lk 2:2 hAUTH EGENETO APOGRAFH PRWTH (D05) Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Sep 18 08:33:50 EDT 2002
Romans 8:28 and “in” all things PART 2 Photos of Arndt & Gingrich? As indicated in the subject-header, the focus here is the reading of CodexBezae (D05) for the text indicated; it is another in the sequence of issuesregarding readings of D05 raised by our French correspondent, Mme. SylvieChabert d’Hyères.Preliminary comments: I am very hesitant inaugurate a new thread on thisvexed GNT verse, inasmuch as it is “beset with land-mines”: (a) verydiverse opinions and convictions have been expressed on this list regardingit by persons whose judgment I respect even when I disagree with them, and(b) what this text says and what it means are of critical importance tothose holding diverse hermeneutical, historical, and theologicalassumptions. I certainly do not hope nor desire to see here yet anotherrestatement of all the positions taken on all sides of the issues involved;those who care deeply about the issue may wish to consult the archives athttp://www.ibiblio.org//archives/index.htmland look at the following threads:1995: Sept 6-Oct 6 (Subject-header: “PRWTH in Lk 2:2”)1999: Dec 23-29 (Subject-header: “Lk 2:2”)2000: Dec 12-13 (Subject-header: “Rendering PRWTH as “earlier” in Luke 2:2″)2001: June 26-29 (Subject-header: “The text of Luke 2:2 and word order”)What I do hope is (a) that the text-critical question of which MS readingor which reconstruction of the putative original text of the passage ispreferable may be ignored here altogether, and (b) that those who wish tocontribute to discussion of this topic may steer clear of thosehermeneutical, historical, and theological predilections and focus strictlyupon the grammatical factors bearing upon what the text according to CodexBezae (D05) may legitimately be understood to mean.The MSS: It may help to note the alternative readings as indicated inSwanson (Reuben Swanson Editor, 1995. Sheffield, England; William CareyInternational University Press, Pasadena, USA):1 – hAUTH APOGRAFH PRWTH EGENETO B, Aleph-c; 565, 700, 1346…2 – hAUTHN APOGRAFHN EGENETO PRWTH Aleph*3 – hAUTH EGENETO APOGRAFH PRWTH D4 – hAUTH hH APOGRAFH PRWTH EGENETO A C E K L M U, 33 …5 – hAUTHN APOGRAFH PRWTH EGENETO WIt should be noted also that what follows in all the MSS is hHGEMONEUONTOSTHS SURIAS KURHNIOU, the only variants being alternative spellings of theproper name KURHNIOU. The “critical text” (NA27/USB4) displays reading #1above; NA27 does indicate the alternative word-order of D05, but not veryclearly. Our concern, then, is: how do we understand the text of D05: hAUTHEGENETO APOGRAFH PRWTH hHGEMONEUONTOS THS SURIAS KURHNIOU?hAUTH: In this instance it must be a pronoun. While understanding it as ademonstrative adjective in #1 above is awkward owing to the absence of theexpected article (we expect hAUTH hH APOGRAFH–and indeed we may guess thatthe presence of the article in #4 above is either a correction of #1 or atleast conceivably was the original text–but that is altogether tangentialhere), it is by no means uncommon for the demonstrative PRONOUN to take thegender and number of its referent noun in the predicate (cf. Smyth, #1178a).EGENETO: Can this really be an appropriate aorist equivalent to theimperfect HN–and therefore can it take a predicate word? If so, then thesense of the reading of D05 must be: “This was a first (or ‘earlier’)registration/enrollment …” I am somewhat dubious, however, aboutunderstanding GINOMAI as a simple copula; BDAG shows the verb in anexistential sense (#8), but not, so far as I can see, as a copula linking asubject to a predicate word. My own survey of LSJ-Glare doesn’t reallyquite convince me that usage as a copula equivalent to an aorist of EIMI isstandard, but I am open to a demonstration that I am wrong on this.APOGRAFH: BDAG notes this as “administrative term ‘list, inventory’ of thestatistical reports and declarations of citizens for the purpose ofcompleting the tax lists and family registers … Lk 2:2 the word meanscensus, registration, of the census taken by Quirinius.” BDAG also notes”The chronology is full of problems, on which see the handbooks.” and thengoes on to cite literature on the problems (which problems, of course,lieoutside the parameters of discussion–I merely note this forinterested parties who may wish to consult the bibliography cited by BDAG).PRWTH: “first” or possibly “earlier” (Hellenistic PRWTOS for PROTEROS):”This was an earlier registration/enrollment.” If that is the case, thenpresumably there was another registration/enrollment about which readersmight have been expected to know. I might just add that I would NOT arguefor the reading of D05 what I have argued of reading #1 above, that PRWTHis predicative and adverbial in force (PRWTH EGENETO = “first took place”);the word-order of D05 seems to me to require that PRWTH be understood asattributive to APOGRAFH.hHGEMONEUONTOS THS SURIAS KURHNIOU: I would maintain that this is thestandard Lucan genitive absolute of time reference and indicates that theregistration/enrollment took place when Quirinius held imperialadministrative authority over Syria. But there have been suggested twoalternative interpretations: (1) that this genitive phrase is simply”possessive” with APOGRAFH PRWTH: “a first registration of (the one)governing Syria, Quirinius”; I must say that the presence of the participleand absence of an article turning it into a substantive makes this seemless likely to me; (2) it has also been maintained that the genitive phraseis complementary to PRWTH when PRWTH is understood as equivalent to PROTERAand having prepositional force: “prior to Quirinius holding imperialadministrative authority over Syria.” While this seems dubious to me, I amaware that it is maintained by some others whose opinions I respect.So there it is; alternative opinions are invited, with the proviso that anydiscussion remain focused on the grammatical issues of interpretation ofthe Codex Bezae (D05) reading in Lk 2:2, and NOT on historical,theological, or hermeneutical–or even text-critical–issues.– Carl W. ConradDepartment of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.comWWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
Romans 8:28 and “in” all things PART 2Photos of Arndt & Gingrich?
Lk 2:2 hAUTH EGENETO APOGRAFH PRWTH (D05) Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Sep 19 21:38:32 EDT 2002
adverbial use of prepositional phrase in Luke 23:43? EAUTOU in ROMANS 5:8 Forwarded to the list for Virgil Salvage <virgilsalvage1 at email.msn.com>:hHGEMONEUONTOS THS SURIAS KURHNIOU….This, it seems to me is key tounderstand what Luke is writing to this person QEOFILE and what it meant tohim based on how Luke presents it. It had been ordered that APOGRAFESQAI wasto happen. This was a first. PRWTH It apparently hadn’t happened before….and Luke, I think, wanted to describe to QEOFILE what it was like, thatis, what were it’s characteristics. What it was like to have gone throughit…with it’s conditions and implications. Luke says of AUTH…EGENETO itwas accomplished….this first ever…APOGRAFH. What was it like QEOFILE…?? It was just like it was when you experienced it up in Syria. It was ahHGEMONEUONTOS THS SURIAS KURHNIOU kind of registering and record taking. “”administrative term ‘list, inventory’ of thestatistical reports and declarations of citizens for the purpose ofcompleting the tax lists and family registers. It was characterized by what was characterized by the then governing ofthat which is The Syria….being done by KURHNIOU. How was it performed…?Like hHGEMONEUONTOS THS SURIAS KURHNIOU. This genitive cased phrase islimiting or giving classification to the doing of the APOGRAFH. How did theaction happen ? Just as in the governing of the region or OIKOUMENHN ofSyria. Quirinius apparently followed suit from what was a first census inthe OIKOUMENHN decreed by Caesar Augustus. Whatever was that region orregions…it apparently did not include Syria, because Luke, when he iswriting about it and describing it to QEOFILE, he says it was just like thegoverning that you experienced under Quirinius. This would explain from thegrammar how this census could have occurred before the census taken byQuirinius some years later. Quirinius’s census which was part of hisgoverning was not the first…but it was just “like” the first that had beenordered by Caesar Augustus to at least be carried out ” in the OIKOUMENHNand all that were in that region where Joseph was. That was “all” theirworld. Just think…if you were Luke who and what and where was “all” theworld you were in ? Just like in Acts 24:5 where the Jews claimed Paul hadbeen doing his deeds “throughout the world,”….how do we tell what theextent of that statement meant to them. How big was their OIKOUMENHN ? Itseems to me that the grammar of the phrase…hHGEMONEUONTOS THS SURIASKURHNIOU…indicates that “all of that world” that was censused….did notinclude Syria and that Syria experienced at some future time a census thatLuke used to describe to QEOFILE what the one was like that Joseph submittedhimself and Mary to…..After all…we don’t know when Luke wrote this andwhere QEOFILE was living at the time of Joseph going to Bethlehem. Luke, Ithink, is referencing some information that QEOFILE is familiar with so he( Luke ) can more accurately portray what and how things were happening atthat other time.That, anyway….FWIW is what I get from the grammar, as well as theinformation in the archives on the background of this passage.The census that Joseph submitted to was a …..governing of Syria byQuirinius kind of census.Virgil NewkirkSalt Lake City, Utah
adverbial use of prepositional phrase in Luke 23:43?EAUTOU in ROMANS 5:8
Lk 2:2 hAUTH EGENETO APOGRAFH PRWTH (D05) Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Sep 26 05:54:36 EDT 2002
Uses of GAR Lk 2:42: age of Jesus in the Temple (Luke in Codex Bezae At 8:33 AM -0400 9/18/02, Carl W. Conrad wrote:>EGENETO: Can this really be an appropriate aorist equivalent to the>imperfect HN–and therefore can it take a predicate word? If so, then the>sense of the reading of D05 must be: “This was a first (or ‘earlier’)>registration/enrollment …” I am somewhat dubious, however, about>understanding GINOMAI as a simple copula; BDAG shows the verb in an>existential sense (#8), but not, so far as I can see, as a copula linking a>subject to a predicate word. My own survey of LSJ-Glare doesn’t really>quite convince me that usage as a copula equivalent to an aorist of EIMI is>standard, but I am open to a demonstration that I am wrong on this.While I stand by my statement above that I don’t think EGENETOfunctions as a copula here in hAUTH EGENETO APOGRAFH PRWTH, I really haveno objection to understanding it in the sense “proved to be” or “turned outto be.” Mme Chabert d’Hyères has called my attention to the similar usagein Thucydides 1.55.2 AITIA DE hAUTH PRWTH EGENETO TOU POLEMOU, which Iwould English as “And this turned out to be [or ‘proved to be’] the primarycatalyst of the war.” So then Lk 2:2 hAUTH EGENETO APOGRAFH PRWTH would beunderstood as, “This proved to be a first (of two or several) registration… “– Carl W. ConradDepartment of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.comWWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
Uses of GARLk 2:42: age of Jesus in the Temple (Luke in Codex Bezae