From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Fri Jan 30 1998 - 06:50:52 EST
At 5:45 PM -0600 1/29/98, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>At 03:14 PM 1/29/98 EST, CWestf5155@aol.com wrote:
>
>>In terms of the passage at hand, the context of the situation must be a
>>backdrop, but the transfer of the entire baggage of "woman as
>>victim/object/suffering" into the mouths of the scribes and Pharisees
>accusing
>>her would involve an exegetical fallacy. First, because apparently according
>>to the research of others on list, the passive (or middle) is always used, so
>>that this is "simply the way they say it." Second, because in the context,
>>they are holding her accountable.
>
>"Simply the way they say it" would explain cultural beliefs which may have
>existed at a given time; naturally, these beliefs may change over time. For
>instance, the original meaning of Mr. and Mrs. is probably not terribly
>relevant to modern usage, but it does reflect usage that existed at an
>earlier time.
>
>If it is middle, this would tend to indicate a focus on the woman's body,
>as opposed to the man's. The woman commits adultery with respect to her own
>body (that's the middle), the man commits adultery with respect to the
>woman's body. But if this is "simply" the way it is said in classical
>Greek, then this reflects Greek usage, not consciously chosen New Testament
>theology.
>
>And I agree that the fact that they are holding her responsible is
>significant here, and far outweighs the medio-passive form.
I'm going to piggy-back onto Jonathan's post here to note that (a) I myself
am still pretty sure that MOICEUOMENH in the Johannine passage is in fact
middle rather than passive and for that reason I am in accord with what
Jonathan says in his penultimate paragraph cited above; (b) I have a rather
lengthy post that is not finished yet because it involves some compiled
information from my further look into voice-usage of MOICEUW/MOICEUOMAI (I
also found very helpful the lexicographical information supplied by Anthony
Storm). If I can finish the other work I need to do in time, I'll post that
later today, otherwise tomorrow. I do want to say, however, that I have
found instances of the active voice used with a feminine subject (even in
the LXX) and instances of the middle voice used with a masculine subject,
so that, although I'll readily grant what Jim West has said about attitudes
in Jewish society toward women, I still have to say that I don't think that
means we have to understand MOICEUOMENH in the Johannine verse in chapter 8
as a passive.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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