The reason you write a commentary, of course, is to elucidate complicated or obscure constructions — so I shouldn’t be surprised to spend an hour hung up over how best to render the obsequious invitation in James 2:3 (should it be “Please sit here,” or an offer of an especially prominent bench, hence something like “Take this good seat”?), or the deceptively simple command and Christological formula in James 2:1.
“Do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with favoritism. . . .” The expression “have faith” is common enough, though it doesn’t usually have a definite article in NT usage (I see only 1 Cor 13:2 as an example); and what’s with the position of “of glory” here? If it were earlier in the clause, I’d construe it as a qualitative genitive (“our glorious lord”), but it’s awfully remote from the word “lord” for that to be an easy answer.
I’m at Peet’s this morning, because Margaret’s right that I work more productively away from home and office, but commentary-writing really requires access to reference sources. I’ll change over and work on the other essay.
Posted by AKMA at June 24, 2004 12:15 PM | TrackBackMargaret's suggestion applies to me. I am much more productive away from home or office. I also agree with you, that commentary (and dissertation) writing requires many resource books. You should really look into getting a writing carrel at NU's library. The hours are about the same as Peet's (if not better), there are less distractions, and there is plenty of shelf space for your books, not to mention, a decent research library at your disposal.
Posted by: Frank at June 24, 2004 01:22 PMAKMA, I couln't get through on your nwu email because nwu is changing all addresses. I need your ss#. Could you please email it to me? Thanks a lot. xx, Mom
Posted by: NTA at June 25, 2004 04:50 AMAre you sure that the purpose of writing commentaries is to elucidate complicated or obscure constructions. Isn't this colluding with the guild's mystification of the word which you oppose elsewhere? Is a commentary a recording of a reading - or the opening of a new door - or a re-emergence of the intertextual game? You're not taking yourself too seriously are you?
Posted by: Pete Phillips at June 25, 2004 05:11 AMNWU is associating SSNs with email accounts? I don't know what they're doing, but it sounds like a bad idea.
Posted by: Wes at June 25, 2004 03:22 PMThis comment is a little late, as I've been behind on my blog-reading. Taking another look at these passages, in 2:1 why can't "glory" modify "Christ"? And for what it's worth, earlier in the year, we settled on the polite indirection of "Be seated here" but of course, that doesn't resolve the problem of kalos, unless you go with BDAG's "in a good place."
Posted by: Michelle at June 28, 2004 06:13 PM