The drift toward theological discussion
Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Tue, 12 May 1998 07:14:01 -0400
Several of the recent threads have drifted in the direction of either using
the Biblical text to pose theological questions or posing theological
questions and using the Biblical text to seek answers. Could I urge,
PLEASE, that posters be more careful to focus inquiries on the Greek text
itself and what it may legitimately be said to mean because of the manner
of its formulation? Obviously, as has been pointed out many times, one
rarely, if ever, approaches a Biblical text without theological assumptions
and biases, but most of us at least like to think that we come to the text
asking what IT has to say to US rather than asking HOW we can USE it for
our own purposes. So: I'm not asking that people shed their theological
assumptions and biases as excess baggage when coming to B-Greek, but I AM
asking that they pose questions about the text (or respond to others'
questions) WITHOUT having theological axes to grind with the text in
question as an instrument for that end.
Carl W. Conrad
Co-Chair, B-Greek List