Re: Assumptions

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Tue, 13 Aug 1996 23:11:41 -0400

At 11:00 AM -0400 8/13/96, Ron Henzel wrote:
>First, I must take issue with even using Winer as an authority, given
>the fact that Winer had many theological axes to grind (he was not
>primarily a grammarian, but a theologian -- and a LIBERAL one at
>that!)
(snip)
>I hesitate to point this out -- because I fear that some may think
>that I veer from the subject of this discussion group -- but in the
>interest of historical fact and veracity in scholarship it must be
>stated that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (of Jehovah's
>Witnesses) has a long and storied history of misquoting, selectively
>quoting, out-of-context-quoting, and generally misusing standard
>Biblical linguistic reference works in order to support their
>"translations" (BTW: despite the claims of the Watchtower Society, it
>is a long-established fact that none of the NWT translators had any
>training in Biblical languages) which are in turn used to support
>their theological positions.

At 8:09 PM -0400 8/13/96, Hubert Arthur Bahr III wrote:
>I think you have discovered the one redeeming feature of Erasmian
>pronunciation (it's phonetic). I can only hope there is never an
>"Erasmian" pronunciation of English.

Why do I have the disturbing suspicion that messages currently arriving
before us in B-Greek are intended to display the posters' ASSUMPTIONS more
than anything about either the Greek text or the Greek language?

Isn't it possible to argue a position regarding John 8:58 or anything else
that is a proper concern of this list without snidely remarking on
sectarian grounds for disregarding someone's judgment on a text or a point
of grammar? Granted that the weight of scholarly tradition may have a
bearing on the validity of a point of interpretation of a text or a point
of grammar, isn't the cogency of the argument being made in its own right
the primary matter for a reader of opinions offered in this forum to
consider? Is that too idealistic?

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/