From: BTHURMAN@unca.edu
Date: Tue Apr 29 1997 - 07:47:25 EDT
sorry i don't have time to go through motions on points of internet propriety.
anollumi = apollymi and derivative verbs can refer to total destruction, but
just as we might say "i'm destroyed" as a trope, so they might, scil. 'lost'.
although some greek philosophical sects held to immortality of the soul, i
doubt seriously that a single instance of yuxh = psyche in scripture as an
inherently immortal entity can be cited. (i'm quite convinced that in Ap. 6,9
it means 'corpses'.)
generalizations like edith hamilton's "the greeks believed in the immortality
of the soul" are so much poppycock (of dutch derivation). the atomists did not,
most cynics did not, the aristotelians did not and many later stoics did not.
aquinas was embarrassed about the nepi yuxhc = peri psyches > de anima.
anyway, if i wanted to push annihilation, i think i'd push ole0poc = olethrus
in 2 thess. 1,9. & i'd ask if anybody knows a greek term for total annihilation
that is not used of the destruction of the wicked.
the human sense of justice factor also seems to work pretty strongly here, as
when paul at end of romans 1 points out that they know these things justly
deserve death. they do. do they justly deserve endless supreme agony, perpetual
barbecuing?
if my whole spiritual system were as biblically fixed as that of many seems to
be, i'd have to be annihilationist on linguistic grounds, but there are
philosophical problems that give me trouble no matter how i might decide.
shalom,
bearded bill of asheville <bthurman@unca.edu>
unca not having approved either whom or thereof.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:38:13 EDT