From: Ilvgrammta@aol.com
Date: Wed Dec 22 1999 - 17:40:48 EST
In a message dated 99-12-22 15:01:53 EST, scmiller@www.plantnet.com writes:
<< I would concur with you that the Louw & Nida lexicon is an "excellent
work." On the other hand, I have reservations about this particular
example. I can understand why people, confronted with making sense of this
saying by the Johannine Jesus would want to translate the present tense
verb EIMI as a past tense in English, but the fact remains that the most
literal translation of these words is simply: "before Abraham was, I am
he.">>
Let me clear up a few things here. For one, I think that the Johannine
passage can be rendered in a number of acceptable ways. True, the most
literal rendering is "I am he." But the most literal translation might not be
the best one in this case. In this context, I think this verse should be
translated in an existential manner. The emphasis should be on the
"existence" of Abraham over against the "existence" of Jesus. Now whether one
chooses to render John 8:58 as "I have been" or "I existed"--he or she needs
to emphasize the notion of existence. Either way, I do not think that the
passage is juxtaposing temporality and atemporality.
The only objection I have to the translation, "I am he," is that it is too
vague for the modern target audience. Besides preferring "I existed," I also
like K.L. Mckay's treatment of this verse: "I have been in existence since
before Abraham was born" (See Furuli, Rolf. _The Role of Theology and Bias in
Bible Translation_. P. 238). Cf. Mckay [1994].
Best regards,
Edgar Foster
--- B-Greek home page: http://sunsite.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-329W@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:40:51 EDT