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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Can a woman speak in church? | 1 Tim 2:15 | Hank | 10730 | ||
Hello, John (JVH0212): In pointing out the distinction between "may" and "can" you sound like my favorite professor of English. But keep sounding that way! Semantics holds a major key to one's ability to extract proper meaning from the written word. In no other body of writing that I can think of is this more important than in Scripture. I recall having read an essay once, whose title and author have long since escaped by recolletion, in which the author proposed the thesis that a great deal of our inability as human beings to understand each other revolves not around the fact that there are many languages in the world, but that we who presume to speak the same language do not, in fact, do so -- that there is a wide variance of understanding among us of the exact meaning of English words. I believe the forum is a rich laboratory in which this author's thesis is proved true day by day. -- Hank | ||||||
2 | Can a woman speak in church? | 1 Tim 2:15 | Just Read Mark | 83542 | ||
Language and Community Language constantly changes, as we invent ways to express ourselves. We should not pine for a universal code -- for language needs to shift to meet the needs of our changing world. Dictionaries are a recent phenomenon -- several hundred years. Language is formed and interpreted in community. As new expressions are formed, they are shared by a community that understands their meaning. Sometimes these expressions become common usage. This points to the importance of reading scripture as a community --- for it was written long ago, and includes metaphors and forms not common in our era. Most of the epistles, for example, are addressed to churches: the letters were read aloud, shared communally, and interpreted together in light of the shared gospel. Reading the scriptures apart from the community of faith --- in an individualistic inquiry --- can lead to some bizarre conclusions. An interesting thing about this forum is that it brings together diverse members of the community of Christ: people from different backgrounds struggling together to interpret the text. (I realize this note is a late addition to this thread... but I've been thinking about these things a lot.) |
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