Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Could this not simply be the phenomenon of shifting semantic domains? In Hebrew, this word means 'perfect' in the sense of 'complete'. While 'perfect' is a legitimate way to translate the word in Latin, the actual Latin word has a slightly different semantic range, on which Augustine is basing his discussion. In other words, Augustine is situating his discussion within the Latin meanings of the Latin word, not the Hebrew meanings of the Hebrew word.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia