From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sat Dec 25 1999 - 15:58:39 EST
At 10:33 AM -0600 12/25/99, Steven Craig Miller wrote:
>Commenting on John 3:16, Father Raymond E. Brown writes: "The aorist
>implies a supreme 'act' of love" (AB 29:133). Although Father Brown was IMO
>one of our truly great scholars, I think his statement here is simply
>pseudo-grammatical nonsense. There is nothing about putting the verb AGAPAW
>into the aorist which could imply some sort of superlative force. This
>verse might refer to a "supreme act of love," but putting the verb in the
>aorist tense doesn't tell us that.
I would agree that the choice of the aorist tense of HGAPHSEN in itself
doesn't indicate superlative force--I'd think the hOUTWS ... hWSTE ...
MONOGENH EDWKEN is pretty forceful in expressing this idea, however.
[omission]
>As to whether or not John 3:16 refers to Jesus' crucifixion, although most
>commentators which I've consulted would tend to support such a notion, I
>would note that this verse purports to be a saying of Jesus which he made
>before his crucifixion, and undoubtedly if one thinks of this passage as
>historical, it is impossible for his audience to have understood his words
>in such a light.
On the other hand, it's harder to fit John's gospel into ordinary
chronological schemes in any case; although some might say that the fact
John puts the "cleansing of the Temple" in chapter 2 means that his
chronology is greatly at odds from the Synoptics, I don't think that his
scheme is essentially chronological until the passion narrative begins. I
rather think there's a good deal in the earlier chapters that isn't even
meant to be understood as earlier or later on a straight chronological
scheme. The centerpiece of chapter 12, for instance, verses 23ff., seem to
me in a sense to be voiced as if directly from the cross: ELHLUQEN hH hWRA
hINA DOXASQHi hO hUIOS TOU ANQRWPOU ... where one must reckon with the
intent of the perfect tense in ELHLUQEN. I should add, this is simply the
way I read John, rather than in terms of continuous linear chronological
sequence that others may feel more appropriate. And I rather feel that the
episodes in the first twelve chapters are not so much sequential events as
panels in a kaleidoscopically-shifting vision of the meaning of Jesus'
passion.
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
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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