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  • From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
  • To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] adonai "my Lord" or "the Lord"
  • Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:53:35 +1100

James,

Your theory about the use of PIPI for the divine name makes a lot of
assumptions. Primarily, it assumes a general ignorance of Jewish reference to
their God among gentiles. This is hardly the case, especially with the early
gentile Christians who were largely drawn from the ranks of 'God-fearers' in
the synagogues. The 'chain of events' you reconstruct strikes me as highly
unlikely.

There is ample evidence for the shift to KYRIOS in the two centuries BCE. I
doubt it was a universal shift, but it certainly seems to be quite prevalent.
Notice also the paucity of the divine name in Hebrew/Aramaic documents from
this time on, and the preference for other forms of reference (e.g. 'God',
'Lord', 'Heaven', etc.). But, I won't rehash all the arguments.


GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au





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