Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Charles A. Gieschen's translation of Genesis 16:13

In his book, Angelomorphic Christology, the Lutheran scholar Charles A. Gieschen provided the following translation of Gen 16:13:

So she called the name of YHWH who spoke to her, You are an El of seeing” [‎ ותקרא שׁם־יהוה הדבר אליה אתה אל ראי]; for she said, “Have I really seen him, and remained alive after seeing him?” (Charles A. Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence [Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1998; repr., Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2017], 58, emphasis in original)

 Notice how Gieschen renders אתה אל as "You are an El" (note the indefinite article), the same phrase that appears in Psa 90:2. I bring this up as according to a self-professed Mormon studies "scholar" (one who cannot read Hebrew and depends upon an inter-linear[!]), there is no basis to render אתה אל as "you are an El" or, alternatively, "You are a God."

That is what happens when one depends upon the University of Google for Hebrew than, say, undergraduate and postgraduate classes in a Roman Catholic seminary (in my case) or Concordia Theological Seminary (where Gieschen lectures).



Update: Jordan McDaniel asked the rather brain dead question if I know that Gieschen is a Trinitarian--I believe that would have been made clear by the fact I pointed out he is a Lutheran. Also, it appears that Fred Anson is upset that I used a non-LDS source simply to back up the plausibility of "You are an El" to translate אתה אל; this is similar to how he complained [and got intellectually beaten up as he is wont to do] about LDS appeals to Joseph Fitzmyer. I am under no llusion that Gieschen "supports" LDS theology. Pathetic, really)