Abortion: A Satanic Religious Right...

[tabibito]

You appear to have read that differently from myself.


[box[]Another proposal is that hęgemoneuontos tęs Syrias might mean simply “holding a command in Syria” and since Quirinius is known to have fought a war in Asia Minor between 6 B.C. and 1 B.C. (see above), perhaps Luke means to refer to the time when Quirinius was fighting this war, and not actually “legate of Syria.” This doesn’t actually solve any of the problems already discussed so far–no census of Judaea could have been held before 6 A.D. But the argument is not even reasonable to begin with. First, it makes no sense to date an event in Judaea by referring to a special command in a war in Asia.

Every expert familiar with the facts agrees that “only an army coming from the north could subjugate mountain tribes” in that region, in other words an army led from the province of Galatia, not Syria.[13.2] So it would be quite nonsensical of Luke to refer to Quirinius’ command and probable governorship in the province of Galatia as “holding a command in Syria,” all the more so since “being a ruler of Syria” is what the phrase actually means anyway (since “Syria” appears in the genitive, not dative case).[box].

"This doesn't solve any of the problems" indicates that the alternative reading, "holding a command," can be accepted - but it doesn't make any difference in the argument at hand.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

"This doesn't solve any of the problems" indicates that the alternative reading, "holding a command," can be accepted

My emphasis.

Another proposal is that hęgemoneuontos tęs Syrias might mean simply mean "holding a command in Syria" [...] just because Quirinius was probably assigned a Syrian legion to fight bandits on the mountain border between Galatia and Cilicia, it does not follow that he had any kind of command in Syria [...] A Syrian legate would have no business fighting a war in someone else’s province, [...] all the more so since “being a ruler of Syria” is what the phrase actually means anyway (since “Syria” appears in the genitive, not dative case).

That emphasised phrase is somewhat less categorical than your comment.

but it doesn't make any difference in the argument at hand.

What argument?

[tabibito]

My emphasis.

Another proposal is that hęgemoneuontos tęs Syrias might mean simply mean "holding a command in Syria" [...] just because Quirinius was probably assigned a Syrian legion to fight bandits on the mountain border between Galatia and Cilicia, it does not follow that he had any kind of command in Syria [...] A Syrian legate would have no business fighting a war in someone else’s province, [...] all the more so since “being a ruler of Syria” is what the phrase actually means anyway (since “Syria” appears in the genitive, not dative case).

That emphasised phrase is somewhat less categorical than your comment.

What argument?

If he considered that the alternative, "commanding," was invalid, he would have said as much - as he has done for any argument that he considers invalid. All he says is that "commanding" does nothing to solve the problems that he is talking about (the argument at hand).

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

If he considered that the alternative, "commanding," was invalid, he would have said as much

He qualified his comment.

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