Certainly! We need to communicate with people who do not speak Greek,
translate the text, explain why we disagree with this or that translation,
etc.
>Do we really get any
>closer to the meaning of the ancient text by constantly
>fussing about which is the preferable English gloss for a
>particular Greek word?
Probably. When we discuss how to render something, we invariably discuss the
actual force of the original. Our discussion of the gloss "Soul" for LOGOS
led to some discussion of the hellenistic use of that word, and both Will
and Carl brought up some very interesting information.
Of course, if anybody suggests X as a translation, without explanation of
the original force, I'll simply respond with:
"I'll bite - why X?"
Jonathan
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Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie
POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C., 27703 http://www.poet.com
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