Re: telew- ben's interpretation (OFF-LIMITS)

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Wed, 20 May 1998 12:46:33 -0400

At 4:45 PM -0400 5/20/98, Ben Crick wrote:
>On Mon 18 May 98 (21:02:47), jwest@highland.net wrote:
>> 1- the 'cognoscendi' around the cross would have recognized Jesus' Aramaic
>> cry. what Ben forgets is that the Aramaic cry is a synoptic, not a
>> Johannine, saying- this quotation does not exist in John's Gospel!!!!
>> We, then, have a confusion of sources indicated by Ben's response.
>
> This is straying beyond b-greek, I know; I claim my "right of reply".
> No, not forgetful, Jim. The beloved Apostle was nearer the cross than any of
> the others. He picked up what the others missed. He wrote the fourth gospel
> after the others, not to duplicate their efforts, but to fill in some gaps.
> Thsnk you, Jim. I rest my case.
> Ben

Okay, Jim said his say, and Ben has had his reply. I really think all of
those posts were out of order insofar as they went beyond the question of
the meaning of TETELESTAI. What has been displayed by Ben and by Jim is two
very different hermeneutics; that these should produce very different
results should hardly be surprising. The problem here is that,although Jim
says he takes it for granted that everyone realizes he is only stating his
own opinion, both perspectives have been offered, it appears to me, as
matters of more or less clear and obvious truth about which reasonably
persons surely agree, even if there might be some effort to qualify or
clarify. But this is precisely the sort of discussion that is inappropriate
on B-Greek. We have no business either discussing hermeneutics as such or
expressing the outcome of our own hermeneutic as "the truth" or as a
refutation of what another has set forth as "the truth."

Let's just not do this any more, please.

Carl W. Conrad
Co-Chair, B-Greek List