[jsword-devel] Concordance

[DM Smith]

Paul Price wrote:

> On Thu, 2004-05-27 at 09:34, DM Smith wrote:
> 
>>Your advice is sound and good to pass on. I am still looking for a 
>>resource that will split a particular Greek word into different meanings 
>>and provide separate verse lists for each. Do you know if there is any 
>>such book? I have not seen any.
> 
> 
> I expect the functionality that you're looking for would involve someone
> making a decision as to the context the word is used in.  That's a lot
> of hard work (and it can't be done by a computer; for an example of such
> a study, see James White's study on "justification" in "The God Who
> Justifies"), so I wouldn't expect such a book to be attempted, and even
> if it did, my personal choice would be to do the work myself using
> Strongs and an interlinear: I don't like other people making decisions
> about context for me.  Give me the Word of God, and I will take the
> responsibility for determining the context.

I agree with you for the most part. I have done some exegesis of 
difficult passages and of rich Biblical themes. And it is hard work. So 
that is out of the question. But everytime we read a translation of the 
Greek or Hebrew, we rely on that decision someone else made. Even in 
Nestles, the Greek that is present is often a choice between different 
manuscripts.

All she wants is a simple support tool. I think that it can be done. I 
took a look at christianbooks.com and it does not seem like it exists.

For example, let's say that a particular Greek word is rendered into 5 
different words or phrases in a particular translation, then I would 
like to have those split out separately. For the most part a given 
Greek/English pairing of a Greek word can be described by a single 
definition within a dictionary for that Greek word. Sometimes a given 
Greek word is translated into synonyms. So the definition would be the 
same for both translations. Granted there may/will be differences in the 
meaning that can only be ascribed by context.

Going the other way, a particular English word or phrase can be a 
translation from more than one original. A simplistic reading would 
equate these as synonyms. If they were listed by their original, then 
that would be helpful.

> 
> It's the same old argument, I think, between formal and dynamical
> equivalency.

I had not actually heard of this differentiation before, but I think I 
am in the dynamic equivalency camp, but want a formal equivalency tool.

I think you are right that God's word is so much more than a string of 
definitions that someone else picked out. Merely focusing on the words 
and their definitions can easily miss the point of what God is saying.
The "context is everything."

A great strength of God's word is that His truth is not obscured by 
translations.

> 
> In Christ,
> 
> Paul.
> <><