Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Translations of 1 Timothy 2:12

Linda L. Belleville, in her insightful and helpful essay, “Teaching and Usurping Authority: 1 Timothy 2:11-15,” in Discovering Biblical Equality. Complementarity without Hierarchy. eds. R. W. Pierce and R. M. Groothuis, with G. D. Fee. (Illinois: IVP, 2004, 205-223) offers a list of the way bibles have translated 1 Tim 2:12, διδάσκειν δὲ γυναικὶ οὐκ ἐπιτρέπω οὐδὲ αὐθεντεῖν ἀνδρός, ἀλλ᾽ εἶναι ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ.  

With this she shows how the often debated word αὐθεντεῖν has been understood from the 2nd century, through the ages. 

Old Latin (2nd-4th cent. A.D.): "I permit not a woman to teach, neither to dominate a man [neque dominari viro]" 
Vulgate (4th-5th): "I permit not a woman to teach, neither to domineer over a man [neque dominari in virum]!' 
Geneva (1560 edition): "I permit not a woman to teache, nether to vfurpe authoritie ouer the man"
Casiodoro de Reina (1569): "I do not permit the woman to teach neither to take [tomar] authority over the man/'
Bishops (1589): "I suffer not a woman to teach, neither to usurpe authoritie over the man.
KJV (1611): "I suffer not a woman to teach nor usurp authority over a man."
L, Segond (1910): "I do not permit the woman to teach, neither to take [prendre] authority over the man."
Goodspeed (1923): "I do not allow women to teach or to domineer over men"
La Sainte (1938): "I do not permit the woman to teach, neither to take [prendre] authority over the man "
NEB (1961): "I do not permit a woman to be a teacher, nor must woman domineer over man."
JBCerf (1973): "I do not permit the woman to teach, neither to lay down the law for the man."
REB (1989): "I do not permit women to teach or dictate to the men."
New Translation (1990): "I do not permit a woman to teach or dominate men."
CEV (1991): "They should... not be allowed to teach or to tell men what to do!'
The Message (1993): "I don't let women take over and tell the men what to do!'

Belleville states that, "In fact, there is a virtually unbroken tradition, stemming from the oldest versions and running down to the twenty-first century, that translates authentein as to dominate rather than to exercise authority over."  The pedigree of this view is impressive.  Those who wish to argue that αὐθεντεῖν means to exercise authority, must offer some explanation for the history of how this term has been understood.  

For what it's worth, Sean du Toit (2012) translates it the following way: I am not allowing a woman to teach (nor/so as/and) to dominate a man; she is to keep calm/respectful (non-disruptive).  The brackets and slash's indicate where grammar and semantic range come into play, and require further comments and investigation.  

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