Pseudo-Polycarp 3
This is the third fragment for Pseudo-Polycarp:
| § 3. Idem de initio evangelii secundum Marcum. Rationabiliter evangelistae principiis diversis utuntur, quamvis una eademque evangelizandi probetur intentio. Matthaeus, ut Hebraeis scribens, genealogiae Christi ordinem textuit, ut ostenderet ab ea Christum descendisse progenie, de qua eum nasciturum uniersi prophetae cecinerant; Joannes autem ad Ephesum constitutus, qui legem tamquam ex gentibus ignorabant, a causa nostrae redemptionis evangelii sumpsit exordium; quae causa ex eo apparet, quod filium suum Deus pro nostra salute voluit incarnari. Lucas vero a Zachariae sacerdotio incipit, ut ejus filii miraculo nativitatis et tanti praedicatoris officio divinitatem Christi gentibus declararet. Unde et Marcus antiqua prophetici mysterii competentia adventi Christi declarat, ut non nova sed antiquitus prolata ejus praedicatio probaretur vel per hoc. Evangelistis curae fuit eo uti prooemio, quod unusquisque judicabat auditoribus expedire. Nihil ergo contrarium reperitur, ubi licet diversis scriptis ad eandem tamen patriam pervenitur. | § 3. The same on the beginning of the gospel according to Mark. Reasonably, the evangelists used different beginnings although the one and the same purpose of evangelization is represented. Matthew, as writing to Hebrews, composed the order of the genealogy of Christ, so that he would show that Christ had descended from this progeny, from which all the prophets had foretold him to be born. But John, based in Ephesus, made the beginning of the gospel from the reason of our redemption, of us who from the gentiles as it were did not know the law, which reason is evident from him that God wished his son to be incarnated for our salvation. Luke, however, began from Zacharias the priest so that he would declare the divinity of Christ to the gen-tiles by the miracle of the birth of his son and by the office of so many preachers. From which Mark too declares the ancient qualifications of the prophetic mystery of the coming of Christ so that his preaching had been proven not to be new but uttered from ancient times or account of that. The evangelists were concerned with using introductions, which each decided to set forth that for the listeners. Thus nothing is found to the contrary where even for different writings the same basis is arrived at. |
Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay
I'm always interested in ways of making my own writing more effective and helping others do the same. That's why I liked this article entitled Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay by Timothy Burke of Swarthmore College at his "easily distracted" weblog. Extract:
The most important fundamental issue I see again and again is a paper which is largely descriptive rather than analytical, which proves that a student has "done the homework" but not taken ownership of the material and crafted an argument of their own. Sometimes I see an argument in the first paragraph or in the last paragraph (the latter often appearing to be a last-minute discovery) that is cut off from the rest of the essay, unexplored or unsupported. I often comment that papers lack what I call "flow", a sense that they are moving relentlessly and naturally from one assertion to the next, building towards some goal or overall point.
Classics Resources in Internet
The classics are alive and well in Estonia, and Tartu University (Tartu Ülikool) has a fine site in English on Classics Resources in Internet.
Aitäh!
Obligatory trivia: The great New Testament scholar, Adolf Harnack, was born at Tartu (called Dorpat in German) when his father was teaching there at the famous university. Harnack was ethnically German, so the greatest native Estonian scholar in Biblical studies would have to be Arthur Vööbus, a giant in Syriac studies.
The Roman Law Library
For those interested in Roman law in antiquity, a fascinating resource is THE ROMAN LAW LIBRARY by Alexandr Koptev. Now, understanding Roman law is another issue....
NT Bibliographies
Lorin Crowford, Professor of Religion at Gardner-Webb University, has amassed a bibliography of various topics relating to New Testament studies. One of the larger ones is devoted to different genres (but seems to stop at 1995).
Classical and Medieval History: An Annotated List of Reference Websites
The Library of Congress has many good resources. Here's one relevant to the subject matter of this web log: Classical and Medieval History - Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Websites (Main Reading Room, Library of Congress)
