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From: harwood@cvl.UUCP (David Harwood)
Newsgroups: mod.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Meditations/Questions on The Lord's Prayer
Message-ID: <6413@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Wed, 22-Oct-86 02:50:53 EDT
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Posted: Wed Oct 22 02:50:53 1986
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	In my previous posting, I mentioned the so-called
eschatological ambiguity of the verse of our Lord's Prayer,
"Thy kingdom come...", which is ambiguous between what is
realized for some and what is yet to be fulfilled. I noted
that it was similar to the ancient NT expression "maranatha"
which is ambiguous in the same way, meaning "The Lord has come"
or "May the Lord come." Depending on how it is parsed.
	However, I said that this expression was NT Greek, but
what I should have said was that it occurs literally in the
NT Greek text -- but it is one of the few Aramaic expressions
which are left for some reason in NT Greek writings. Perhaps
these remaining Aramaic words had special significance to earliest
Christians. I was suggesting in my article that the expression
was intended to be ambiguous. (There are other examples of 
intentional ambiguity in ancient Jewish writing - many ones;
eg Hebrew "ruah" occurring in Genesis 1 is given ambiguous
interpretation, "The spirit/wind of God was hovered upon the waters."
('waters' is ambiguous as well). 'Ruah' also has three meanings in
Ezekiel's account of the resurrection of 'the dry bones of Israel',
where it means spirit/wind/breath. The same ambiguity of senses
is possible in Greek 'pneuma', which translates 'ruah', and is
exploited most famously in the NT in John 3 with the meanings 
spirit/wind.
	My point is that Jewish Christian writing exploits verbal
ambiguity.
	(By the way - since I mentioned Ezekiel's account of the
resurrection of the dry bones of Israel - Paul somewhat obscurely
remarks in Romans, that the conversion of the Jews in the end would
be like "the resurrection of the dead." Obviously he is reminded of
what Ezekiel prophesied. This gives yet another example of ambiguity
of Jewish religious concepts - that of "the resurrection". [Two are
mentioned in Revelation as well, first that of the martyrs (Greek
witnesses), later the general resurrection. There were different
interpretations of these in early Christianity.)

					David Harwood