SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.76 issue1Religion in education: Is there yet another solution?A Christian mission of glocal culture within riven societies in God's world author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


Koers

On-line version ISSN 2304-8557
Print version ISSN 0023-270X

Koers (Online) vol.76 n.1 Pretoria  2011

 

RESEARCH ARTICLE

 

Head as metaphor in Paul

 

Hoof as metafoor by Paulus

 

 

A. Wolters

Religion & Theology/Classical Languages, Redeemer College, Ancaster, Canada. E-mail: awolters@quickclic.net

 

 


ABSTRACT

Since the 1980s there has been a debate among New Testament scholars about the meaning of the Greek word "kephalē" ("head") in the Pauline epistles. Some scholars defend the traditional view that it means "leader", while others argue that it should be understood to mean "source". One result of this debate is that it is now clear that both the traditional and the new interpretation of kephalē have very little support in general Greek usage before the New Testament.
This article seeks to advance the debate by showing that the phenomenon of "semantic borrowing" can explain why the meaning "source" is effectively limited to one passage in Herodotus, and the meaning "leader" is only found in Greek works written by bilingual Jews. The passage in Herodotus probably reflects a semantic loan from Old Persian *sar while various places in the Septuagint, Philo, Josephus and Paul reflect a semantic loan from Hebrew "ro'sh" (or Aramaic "re'sh"). Because the latter semantic loan ("head" meaning "leader") is embedded in the Greek Bible (both in the Septuagint and Paul), the authority and prestige of the latter can account for the fact that the new meaning of kephal
ē, though unknown in previous pagan Greek writings, gradually became widespread in post-biblical Greek as Christianity spread.

Key concepts: Greek language, head, kephalē, Paul, semantic borrowing


OPSOMMING

Sedert die 1980s het daar onder Nuwe Testament-wetenskap-likes n debat gewoed oor die betekenis van die Griekse woord "kephalë" ("hoof") in die sendbriewe van Paulus. Sommige we-tenskaplikes verdedig die tradisionele siening dat dit "leier" beteken, terwyl ander argumenteer dat dit verstaan moet word as dat dit "bron" beteken. Een resultaat van hierdie debat is dat dit nou duidelik is dat daar vir sowel die tradisionele as die nuwe interpretasie van "kephalē" weinig ondersteuning te vind is in die algemene Griekse gebruik vóór die Nuwe Testament.
Hierdie artikel poog om die debat verder te voer deur aan te toon dat die fenomeen van "semantiese lening" kan verduidelik waarom die betekenis van "bron" effektief beperk is tot een passasie in Herodotus en die betekenis van "leier" slegs gevind word in Griekse werke wat geskryf is deur tweetalige Jode. Die passasie in Herodotus reflekteer waarskynlik 'n semantiese lening van die Oud-Persiese *sar, terwyl verskeie plekke in die Septuagint, Philo, Josephus en Paulus 'n semantiese lening van die Hebreeuse "ro'sh" (of Aramese "re'sh") reflekteer. Aan-gesien laasgenoemde semantiese lening ("hoof", wat "leier" beteken) in die Griekse Bybel ingebed is (sowel in die Septuagint as in Paulus), kan laasgenoemde se outoriteit en prestige verklaar word deur die feit dat die nuwe betekenis van "kephal
ē", alhoewel onbekend in voorafgaande heidense Griekse geskrifte, geleidelik wydverspreid geraak het in die post-Bybelse Grieks, soos wat die Christendom versprei het.

Kernbegrippe: Griekse taal, hoof, kephalē, Paulus, semantiese lening


 

 

Full text available only in PDF format.

 

 

List of references

BARTHOLOMAE, C. 1904. Altiranisches Wörterbuch. Strassburg: Trübner.         [ Links ]

BAUER, W. 1979. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Trans. and revised by W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich & F.W. Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.         [ Links ]

BECKER, J. 1974. Die Testamente der zwölf Patriarchen: Jüdische Schriften aus hellenistisch-römischer Zeit: Band 3. Unterweisung in lehrhafter Form. Gütersloh: Mohn.         [ Links ]

BEDALE, S. 1954. The meaning of kephalē in the Pauline epistles. Journal of theological studies, 5:211-215.         [ Links ]

BERTRAND, A. 1987. La vie grecque d'Adam et Ève: introduction, texte, traduction et commentaire. Paris: Maisonneuve. (Recherches Intertestamentaires, 1.         [ Links ])

BROWN, F., DRIVER, S.R. & BRIGGS, C.A. 1906. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon.         [ Links ]

CERVIN, R.S. 1989. Does kephalē mean "source" or "authority over" in Greek literature? A rebuttal. Trinity journal, 10:85-112.         [ Links ]

CHARLES, R.H. 1913. The apocrypha and pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English. Vol. 2: Pseudepigrapha. Oxford: Clarendon.         [ Links ]

COTTERELL, P. & TURNER, M. 1989. Linguistics and biblical interpretation. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.         [ Links ]

DE JONGE, M. 1970. Testamenta XII patriarcharum. Leiden: Brill.         [ Links ]

DU CANGE, C. 1958. Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae graecitatis. Reprint Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.         [ Links ]

DUPONT-SOMMER, A. & PHILONENKO, M. 1987. La Bible: Écrits intertestamentaires. Paris: Gallimard.         [ Links ]

FELDMAN, L.H. 1984. Flavius Josephus revisited: the man, his writings, and his significance. (In Temporini, H. & Haase, W., Red. Aufstieg und Nieder-gang der römischen Welt II 21.2. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 763-862.         [ Links ])

FITZMYER, J.A. 1989. Another look at kephalē in 1 Corinthians 11:3. New Testament studies, 35:503-511.         [ Links ]

FITZMYER, J.A. 1993. Kephalē in 1 Corinthians 11:3. Interpretation, 47:52-59.         [ Links ]

FUCHS, C. 1900. Das Leben Adams und Evas. (In Kautzsch, E., Red. Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments. 2 vols. Tubingen: Mohr. S. 506-28.         [ Links ])

GRUDEM, W. 1985. Does kephalē ("head") mean "source" or "authority over" in Greek literature? A survey of 2,336 examples. Trinity journal, 6:38-59.         [ Links ]

GRUDEM, W. 1990. The meaning of kephalē ("head"): a response to recent studies. Trinity journal, 11:3-72.         [ Links ]

GRUDEM, W. 2001. The meaning of kephalē ("head"): an evaluation of new evidence, real and alleged. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 44:25-65.         [ Links ]

GUTHRIE, W.K.C. 1966. Orpheus and Greek religion: a study of the Orphic movement. New York: Norton.         [ Links ]

HERODOTUS. 1954-1966. Histoires, texte établi et traduit par Ph. E. Legrand. 10 vols. Paris: Belles Lettres.         [ Links ]

HERODOTUS. 1972. The histories. New ed. Trans. by A. de Sélincourt; revised by J. Marincola. London: PenguinBooks.         [ Links ]

HILL, D. 1967. Greek words and Hebrew meanings: studies in the semantics of soteriological terms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.         [ Links ]

HOLLANDER, H.W. & DE JONGE, M. 1985. The testaments of the twelve patriarchs: a commentary. Leiden: Brill.         [ Links ]

JOCHMUS, A. 1854. Notes on a journey into the Balkan, or Mount Haemus, in 1847. The journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 24:38-85.         [ Links ]

JOHNSON, M.D. 1983-1985. The life of Adam and Eve. (In Charlesworth, J.H., ed. Old Testament pseudepigrapha. 2 vols. Garden City: Doubleday. p. 2.249-295.         [ Links ])

KAZHDAN, A.P. 1991. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

KENT, R.G. 1953. Old Persian: grammar, texts, lexicon. 2nd rev. ed. New Haven: American Oriental Society.         [ Links ]

KROEGER, C. 1987. The classical concept of "head" as "source." (In Gaebelein Hull, G., ed. Equal to serve: women and men working together revealing the gospel. Old Tappan: Revell. p. 267-283.         [ Links ])

KROEGER, C. 1993. Head. (In Hawthorne, G.F., ed. Dictionary of Paul and his letters. Downers Grove: InterVarsity. p. 375-377.         [ Links ])

LAMPE, G.W.H. 1961. A Patristic Greek Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon.         [ Links ]

LIBANIUS. 1977. Orations. Trans. by A.F. Norman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Loeb Classical Library.         [ Links ])

LIDDELL, H.G., SCOTT, R. & JONES, H.S. 1996. A Greek-English Lexicon. 9th ed. with rev. suppl. Oxford: Clarendon.         [ Links ]

LSJ see LIDDELL, H.G., SCOTT, R. & JONES, H.S. MACKENZIE, D.N. 1971. A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

MICKELSEN, B. & MICKELSEN, A. 1986. What does kephalē mean in the New Testament? (In Mickelsen, A., ed. Women, authority and the Bible. Downers Grove: InterVarsity. p. 97-110.         [ Links ])

MURAOKA, T. 2009. A Greek-English lexicon of the Septuagint. Louvain: Peeters.         [ Links ]

MURPHY-O'CONNOR, J. 1980. Sex and logic in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. Catholic biblical quarterly, 42:482-500.         [ Links ]

PIÑERO, A. 1987. Testamentos de los doce patriarcas. (In Díez-Macho, A., ed. Apócrifos del Antiguo Testamento. Tomo V. Testamentos o discorsos de adios. Madrid: Ediciones Cristiandad. p. 9-158.         [ Links ])

PRING, J.T. 1965. The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Greek (Greek-English). Oxford: Clarendon.         [ Links ]

RAHLFS, A. & HANHART, R. 2006. Septuaginta, id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes edidit Alfred Rahlfs Editio altera quam recognovit et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Duo volumina in uno. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft.         [ Links ]

RIDDERBOS, H. 1975. Paul: an outline of his theology. Trans. by J.R. de Witt. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.         [ Links ]

SCROGGS, R. 1972. Paul and the eschatological woman. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 40:283-303.         [ Links ]

SILVA, M. 1975-1976. Semantic borrowing in the New Testament. New Testament studies, 22:104-110.         [ Links ]

SILVA, M. 1983. Biblical words and their meaning: an introduction to lexical semantics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.         [ Links ]

SOKOLOFF, M. 1990. A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. Ramat-Gan: Bar Ilan University Press.         [ Links ]

SOPHOCLES, E.A. 1870. Greek lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine periods (from bc 146 to ad 1100). Boston: Little & Brown.         [ Links ]

STEINGASS, F.A. 1970. A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary. Reprint. Beirut: Librairie du Liban.         [ Links ]

TROMP, J.. 2005. The life of Adam and Eve in Greek: a critical edition. Leiden: Brill.         [ Links ]

UNGER, E. 1915. Die Dariusstele am Tearos: archäologischer Anzeiger. Beiblatt zum Jahrbuch des archäologischen Instituts, 30:3-17.         [ Links ]

 

 

1 I am pleased to be able to offer this essay as a token of my respect and affection for my long-time friend and colleague Elaine Botha, whom I have known since we were both graduate students in philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam some forty years ago. Although I have since forsaken philosophy for biblical studies, I am aware of her excellent philosophical work on metaphor, and hope this contribution on a specific metaphor in the New Testament will be of interest to her, both professionally and personally.

Creative Commons License All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License