On 3/18/2011 2:11 PM, Andrew Fildes wrote:
> The discussion I remember from some years ago was raised by Barbara Thering I
> think and claimed that the word normally translated from the Aramaic into
> Greek as 'virgin' was the word in Aramaic that simply meant an unmarried
> woman. That had some much more interesting implications as the lady in
> question was apparently ripe in one context and unripe in another.
Ms. Thiering is correct in her interpretation that the Aramaic word in the New
Testament most likely translated, whether
from written material or in the head of a speaker of both languages, and later
translated from Greek to English as
'virgin' in no way says anything about whether the person referred to had ever
had sex or not. She appears not to be
correct that the word means an unmarried woman.
"it is clear that this Semitic term corresponds with the Arabic *^x. and the
Aramaic IVuNs means simply in the masculine
form a /young man /married or unmarried, and, in its feminine form, a /young
woman /married or unmarried."
-A. Mingana, in Exp. Times, XXVI (May, 1915), 379. 'Die altt. Lit., p.
264, quoted in The American journal of
Semitic languages and literatures, Volume 35, p. 218
From that, it would follow that the virgin Mary was, in the language of her
times and which she spoke*, simply a young
woman. However, in the context of the Gospel stories, and the angels' chats
with Mary and Joseph, for a believer, and
especially for a believer in inerrancy, reading into them that she was a virgin
in the English meaning of the word, is
not unreasonable. It just isn't supported by the linguistic evidence of the one
descriptive word.
Arguing with believers about 'virgin birth' seems to me a fools game that pulls
both sides away from the true spiritual
material at hand. The Bible is chock full of stuff like that.
I wouldn't want to be associated with most of Ms. Thiering's ideas. Much of it
appears to raise and fight battles over
issues that are of little or no consequence to me. I have enough ideas that are
controversial in the context mainstream
Christianity that I don't need to borrow someone else's controversies. :-)
The Dean of the seminary of the tiny, quite
liberal, denomination at one of whose small congregations I give a message or
sermon once a month saw fit to
figuratively beat me about the head and shoulders a bit a few weeks ago over
straying too far from his views. Didn't
work. They may throw me out, but I won't speak someone else's words, with which
I disagree, and pretend they are my own.
I find Neil Douglas-Klotz's exploration of the Aramaic origins of the Gospels
fascinating as insight into the
differences between the ground of understanding of spiritual matters by the
Jewish people of the time of Jesus and those
both in the translations that have come down to us and in the traditions and
beliefs that grew up later in the Christian
churches.
For example, Augustine of Hippo's invention of original sin was pure
organizational and theological genius. As a basis
for developing an authoritarian, hierarchical church that stands completely
between it's members and their God, and
mediates their salvation, it's hard to imagine a better idea. I'm sure
Christian theologians all over the world at his
time slapped themselves in the forehead; "Why didn't I think of that???" On the
other hand, it's quite antithetical to
the Jewish beliefs Jesus grew up with and the things he taught.
Paul was not Jewish, was not steeped in that same tradition and wrote in Greek.
Even in the epistles scholars are sure
were written directly by him, so soon after Jesus' death, one can already see a
difference from the underlying spiritual
tradition apparent in the sayings attributed directly to Jesus in both the
canonical gospels and the so called 'gnostic
gospels' and other materials discovered in the last century.
Preachin' Moose
* She would not, of course, been literate, or have been allowed education in
any other languages.
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|