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THE BIRTH of JESUS OR the BIRTH of CHRISTIANS? Intellectual Battle Between the Two Opposing Groups of Scholars

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THE BIRTH of JESUS OR the BIRTH of CHRISTIANS? Intellectual Battle Between the Two Opposing Groups of Scholars About the Book This book is a scholarly inquiry into the textual authenticity of John 1:13 and its Denis theological implications. The research on this verse is quite challenging because D. S. of the two different readings of the verbgenna,w in various manuscripts, uncials Sahayaraj and cursives. The two textual variants are evgennh,qh (was born) and evgennh,qhsan K (were born). Johannine scholars have no common agreement on this point. Some ULANDAISAMY KULANDAISAMY modern versions of the Bible read it in the singular and some other versions in the plural. Read in the plural, it refers to Christians. Theologically it implies the baptismal birth of the Christians. But the singular reading refers to the virginal birth of Christ and implies the theology of Incarnation. Should we read this verse in the singular form (was born) or in the plural (were born)? This book gets into the OF CHRISTIANS? OR THE BIRTH OF JESUS THE BIRTH intellectual battle between the two opposing groups of scholars. In this detailed and THE BIRTH in-depth study, the author takes a position in favour of the singular reading. Then he exegetically analyses the singular reading of the text and presents its theological OF JESUS implications. OR THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANS? About the Author Denis S. Kulandaisamy, born in 1971 at Veeravanallur (Tamil Nadu, India), is a Catholic priest, belonging to the Order of Servants of An Inquiry into Mary. He is a graduate from Bharathidasan University (India). He holds a Licenciate degree in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome. In the year 2005, he did his biblical studies the Authenticity in Jerusalem. He holds a Doctorate in Theology with specialization in Mariology from the «Marianum» Pontifical Theological Faculty, Rome. Since 2007, he has been teaching Biblical Exegesis and Mariology in Rome at the of John 1:13 «Marianum» Pontifical Theological Faculty and the «Augustinianum» Institute of Patrology (Lateran University). He has been a visiting Professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, and at the Monte Berico Higher Institute for Religious Science, Vicenza, Italy. He is a member of the Editorial board of the International Mariological Review Marianum. He has given many conferences and published a number of articles on the New Testament Exegesis and Mariology. MARIANUM ROME Book cover.indd 1 16/07/2015 10:20:16 Denis Sahayaraj KULANDAISAMY THE BIRTH OF JESUS OR THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANS? An Inquiry into the Authenticity of John 1:13 Foreword by Aristide Serra MARIANUM ROME 2015 Denis.pdf 3 20-07-2015 22:39:24 SCRIPTA PONTIFICIAE FACULTATIS THEOLOGICAE MARIANUM ------------------------------------------ 65 ---------------------------------------- NOVA SERIES [37] Copyright © 2015 “MARIANUM” PONTIFICAL THEOLOGICAL FACULTY Viale Trenta Aprile, 6. 00153 Rome, Italy. Tel: (+39) 06.58.39.161 Website: www.marianum.it Email: [email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written per- mission of the publisher. Denis.pdf 4 20-07-2015 22:39:24 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations 15 Foreword 21 General Introduction 25 PART ONE TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF JOHN 1:13 INTRODUCTION 31 Text-critical method 31 What is “Thoroughgoing Eclecticism”? 33 Why thoroughgoing eclectical method? 34 The process of textual criticism 35 I. “STATUS QUAESTIONIS”: A SURVEY OF MODERN VERSIONS AND PREVIOUS STUDIES 35 A. Jn 1:13 in the Modern Versions of the NT 36 B. Observations on the Modern Versions 45 C. A Survey of Previous Studies (1896-2013) 46 1. Defenders of the Singular 47 A. Resch (1896) 47 F. Blass (1898) 48 A. Loisy (1903) 49 Th. Zahn (1912) 49 A. von Harnack (1915) 50 C.F. Burney (1922) 53 G.H.C. MacGregor (1928) 54 R.C.H. Lenski (1942) 54 E.C. Hoskyns (1947) 55 M-É. Boismard (1950) 56 Denis.pdf 5 20-07-2015 22:39:24 [6] CONTENTS E.M. Nieto (1958) 57 K. Rahner (1960) 57 F.M. Braun (1967) 57 J. Galot (1969) 58 T. Gallus (1969) 59 D. Mollat (1973) 60 J. McHugh (1975) 60 L. Sabourin (1976) 61 M. Warner (1976) 62 M. Vellanickal (1977) 62 P. Hofrichter (1978) 63 I. de la Potterie (1978) 64 A. Vicent Cernuda (1982) 64 M. Mees (1985) 65 A. Serra (1985) 65 S. Sabugal (1986) 66 G.R. Beasley-Murray (1987) 66 I. Gebara – M.C. Bingemer (1987) 66 R. Robert (1987) 67 M. Theobald (1988) 67 S.A. Panimolle (1988) 68 B. Escaffre Ladet (1993) 68 S. M.Perrella (1994) 69 J. Ratzinger (1995) 69 M. Panthapallil (1996) 70 ARCIC (2004) 71 S. De Fiores (2006) 72 A. García Moreno (2006) 72 H. Thyen (2007) 73 A. Valentini (2013) 73 2. Scholars staying with the plural 75 J. Lagrange (1927) 75 A. Wikenhauser (1948) 75 B.J. Le Frois (1951) 76 P. Lamarche (1964) 76 C.K. Barrett (1965) 76 R.E. Brown (1966) 77 Denis.pdf 6 20-07-2015 22:39:24 CONTENTS [7] D. Crossan (1967) 78 G. Segalla (1974) 79 K. Barth (1976) 79 J.H. Bernard (1976) 80 S. Cipriani (1980) 80 R. Schnackenburg (1982) 81 E. Haenchen (1984) 81 B. Buby (1985) 81 J.W. Pryor (1985) 82 J. Swetnam (1987) 82 F.J. Moloney (1989) 83 A. Feuillet (1990) 83 X. Léon-Dufour (1990) 83 L. Morris (1995) 84 Y.M. Blanchard (1997) 84 C. Bazzi (2000) 85 E. Ghezzi (2006) 85 S. Grasso (2008) 86 D. Observations and Remarks on the Survey 86 II. EXTERNAL CRITICISM 89 A. Critical Apparatuses and Text-Critical Commentaries 89 1. Critical Apparatus of C. von Tischendorf (1869) 90 2. Critical Apparatus of F. Blass (1902) 91 3. Critical Apparatus of K. Aland & others (1968) 91 4. Critical Apparatus of K. Aland (1985) 91 5. B.M. Metzger’s Textual Criticism (1994) 91 6. R.L. Omanson’s Textual Criticism (2006) 92 B. Textual variants in the Manuscripts 93 1. Witnesses of Plural Reading 105 2. Witnesses of Singular Reading 105 Denis.pdf 7 20-07-2015 22:39:24 [8] CONTENTS C. Patristic Commentaries on Jn 1:13 107 1. Greek Fathers 107 Ignatius of Antioch († c. 110) 107 Justin Martyr († c. 165) 109 Irenaeus († c. 190) 111 Clement of Alexandria († c. 215) 113 Origen († c. 253) 113 Methodius of Olympus († c. 311) 114 Hegemonius (IV Century) 115 Cyril of Alexandria († c. 444) 116 2. Latin Fathers 116 Tertullian († c. 230) 116 Ambrose († c. 397) 117 Jerome († c. 420) 118 Sulpicius Severus († c. 420) 119 Augustine († c. 430) 119 D. More External Evidence 120 1. Epistula Apostolorum (160 A.D.) 121 2. Bodmer Papyri (P66 and P75 ) 122 3. Liber Comicus (c. 657-667 A.D.) 123 4. The Singular as the most ancient reading 123 5. Singular reading: Geographically widespread 124 6. Textual transformation from Plural to Singular? 125 7. Textual transformation from Singular to Plural? 126 E. Concluding Remarks on the External Criticism 127 Denis.pdf 8 20-07-2015 22:39:24 CONTENTS [9] III. INTERNAL CRITICISM 128 A. Grammatical reasons in favour of the singular 128 1. The difficulty with oi] … evgennh,qhsan 128 2. The aorist of genna,sqai in v.13 129 3. The personal pronoun auvtou/ in v. 12 131 4. Usage of verb forms in vv. 12-13 131 5. “kai, epexegeticum” connecting v.13 and v.14 132 B. Reasons from John’s use of Vocabulary 133 1. The Meaning of o;noma in v. 12 133 2. The Supernatural Begetting 134 C. The Context 137 D. Jn 1:13 within the Structure of the Prologue 138 E. Reasons of Style 141 1. Extensive Comment 141 2. The Polemical thrust of v. 13 141 F. Jn 1:13 and the Johannine Theology 142 1. The origin of Christ from God 142 2. The parallel scheme of Johannine theology 143 G. Concluding Remarks of the Internal Criticism 145 H. Summary of Reasons in favour of the Singular 145 Denis.pdf 9 20-07-2015 22:39:24 [10] CONTENTS PART TWO EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS OF JOHN 1:12-13 INTRODUCTION 151 I. EXEGETICAL METHODOLOGY 151 A. Why Historical-Critical Method? 151 B. Exegetical Procedure 152 II. DELIMITATION OF THE TEXT 152 III. REMOTE AND IMMEDIATE CONTEXT OF THE TEXT 154 IV. WISDOM BACKGROUND AND LITERARY GENRE 155 V. SOURCE ANALYSIS 158 VI. LINGUISTIC-SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS 164 A. Grammatical mechanics of the sentence 165 B. Sentence diagram 166 C. Grammatical Skeleton of the sentence 167 1. Grammatical Observations 169 2. The use of Tenses 170 e;labon (v. 12a) 170 e;dwken (v. 12b) 171 gene,sqai(v. 12b) 171 pisteu,ousin (v. 12c) 171 evgennh,qh (v. 13b) 172 VII. LITERARY STRUCTURE OF THE JOHANNINE PROLOGUE 173 A. Concentric / Chiastic Structure 173 1. N.W. Lund 174 2. M.-É. Boismard 175 3. R.A. Culpepper 177 Denis.pdf 10 20-07-2015 22:39:24 CONTENTS [11] B. Structure in the form of ‘W’ 178 1. P. Lamarche 178 C. Spiral or Staircase Structure 180 1. I. de la Potterie 181 2. S. Panimolle 183 3. G. Mlakuzhyil 186 D. Assessment 187 VIII. EXEGETICAL MEANING 188 A. Verse11 189 B. Verse12 191 a) o[soi de. e;labon auvto,n (v. 12a) 191 b) e;dwken auvtoi/j ... qeou/ gene,sqai (v. 12b) 192 c) toi/j … to. o;noma auvtou/ (v. 12c) 197 C. Verse13 198 a) o[j ouvk evx ai`ma,twn … avndro,j (v. 13a) 199 1. Exegetical Meaning of ouvk evx ai`ma,twn 199 2. Different Interpretations of ai`ma,twn 201 i) Reference to family lineage? 202 ii) The ‘blood’ of father and mother? 206 iii) The ‘blood’ of the mother alone? 209 iv) The temporal generation of the Incarnate Word 213 3.
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