Re: Anyone out there???
Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Thu, 21 Nov 1996 04:27:51 -0500
At 10:12 PM 11/20/96 -0500, LISATIA@aol.com wrote:
>
>
>dear friends,
>
> This verse, Matt. 5.3, in the Gospel of Matthew marking the beginning of
>the "teaching" of Jesus, provokes a great deal of trouble in third-world
>translations when people can't understand how Christians would want to be
>poor.
> The Jesus Seminar tried its hand and came up with: "Congratulations you
>poor! God's empire belongs to you." This abysmal translation avoids
>"MAKARIOS" as well as "kingdom of God (heaven)".
> One could suggest that the problem with Matt. 5.3 (and Luke 6.20) is
>that the words of Jesus have come down to us embedded in a slightly
>diffferent literary genre than that of the original delivery. Either Matthew
>or the author of Q collected these sayings and produced a serrmon that sounds
>lilke a set of teachings designed for Christian (communal) living.
> But Jesus spoke most of these sayings in the prophetic mode, that is,
>with passion and social fervor. A proper translation in the prophetic mode
>would be, "Blessings on you poor; God is on your side."
> Likewise, the woes which follow in Luke 6.24-26 were not designed as
>prescriptions for how to receive "woe", but meant, "Damnation to you rich;
>you already have everything!"
>
> richard arthur Merrimack NH LISATIA@aol.com
With this style of argument, couldn't I make the verse say pretty much
anything I want it to, based on my presuppositions of who the real Jesus is
and what he must have really said?
Jonathan
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Jonathan Robie
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