From: dalmatia@eburg.com
Date: Fri Jun 26 1998 - 10:48:23 EDT
Steve Long wrote:
> >In our quest for the semantic range of PROSKUNEW, we must not forget the
> >Jewish background of many of the situations where the word is used.
> It is a very oriental way to show respect. But would
> a Jew of Jesus' day bowed out of respect?
> The definition is clear, it means to bow down, what people are thinking
> when they bow down is harder to pin down.
Seems a classic East meets West encounter. I remember when I was a
student in Ted Warren's class and Ted talked about how the Greeks
regarded hOI BARBAROI to the east ~ They said of them that there was
only one ANEROS, the BASILEUS, and all the rest were mere ANQROPOI.
He took this to mean that there was really only one real man in the
whole miserable bunch of them, who were thereby given very little
respect, if any. They were seen as DOULOI, not free men.
With the following of this thread, I would have to guess that their
understanding was based upon their observation of the action of
PROSKUNEW being rather universally practiced, an action that would
have been unthinkable to an ANEROS of 4th century BC Greece. And as
well, I am thinking, unthinkable to Jesus Christ. No one has
responded to the question of whether or not Jesus engages in the
action of PROSKUNEW, yet it would seem relevant here. If one of the
problems of eastern cultures is that they 'worship' their king, a
physical one, then the infix of worship of God would seem appropriate
and radical. The Jewish culture is perhaps the only eastern one where
this transformation has been largely effected, and even here, the
eastern influence has its ramifications. [The rejection of Christ,
among a host of others.]
As I am recalling, and I am not all that great a GNT student, [ask
anyone!!] Jesus does NOT bow down, even to hO QEOS ~ Instead He
'raises the eyes of Him' in prayer to hO QEOS. Does Jesus bow
down??? I would really like to know!
George
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George Blaisdell dalmatia@eburg.com
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