The apocalyptic XVIth chapter of the Didache

[Ben C. Smith]

Maybe the doctrinal translation is aberrant and not my rational down to earth translation.

No, it is your translation which is incorrect. Just because something is impossible does not mean that it has to be retranslated until it is at least feasible. "He flew to London by flapping his arms." That sentence has meaning, even if the meaning is impossible for a human. It would be a mistake to retranslate it as: "He flew to London by plane."

[spin]

Maybe the doctrinal translation is aberrant and not my rational down to earth translation.

No, it is your translation which is incorrect. Just because something is impossible does not mean that it has to be retranslated until it is at least feasible. "He flew to London by flapping his arms." That sentence has meaning, even if the meaning is impossible for a human. It would be a mistake to retranslate it as: "He flew to London by plane."

He was an eccentric, wealthy dude, who used the gesture of flapping his arms to signal he needed his private jet. I do it all the time.

[DCHindley]

If someone is ill in bed or lying down in exhaustion, and afterwards gets better and stands up, that’s this person’s αναστασις, his or her ‘standing up’ or ‘rising’. When the Gospel writers introduced the fictional succession of death-and-becoming-alive-again, a doctrinal translation was needed, and so in English ‘resurrection’ became the doctrinal translation of αναστασις. But as dead people do not become alive again, we should return to ‘rising’ or ‘recovery’ (in relation to illness or the end stage of famine). Above I already mentioned that νεκρος is a broad term covering ‘dead’ as well as ‘for dead’, ‘as dead’ or ‘deathly ill’ – see BDAG p. 667. And once again, as dead people do not become alive again, the obvious choice in this context is ‘deathly ill’ or ‘moribund’. Maybe the doctrinal translation is aberrant and not my rational down to earth translation.

I do not have an analysis available for the use of Greek anastasis, but it is made up from stasis (standing) and ana (again). I am not aware of the term being used to described, say, getting out of bed in the morning (which folks do again and again every day) or other short term periods of non-standing. I do not think it is even used in conjunction with healing of a paralytic or other bedridden person, to indicate their return to normalcy.

You can search Perseus for the term (in all its many inflected forms) but there will likely be umpteen hits. Randomly sample them to see if any refer to the kind of situation you suggest, then "drill down" as they say.

DCH

[DCHindley]

If someone is ill in bed or lying down in exhaustion, and afterwards gets better and stands up, that’s this person’s αναστασις, his or her ‘standing up’ or ‘rising’. When the Gospel writers introduced the fictional succession of death-and-becoming-alive-again, a doctrinal translation was needed, and so in English ‘resurrection’ became the doctrinal translation of αναστασις. But as dead people do not become alive again, we should return to ‘rising’ or ‘recovery’ (in relation to illness or the end stage of famine). Above I already mentioned that νεκρος is a broad term covering ‘dead’ as well as ‘for dead’, ‘as dead’ or ‘deathly ill’ – see BDAG p. 667. And once again, as dead people do not become alive again, the obvious choice in this context is ‘deathly ill’ or ‘moribund’. Maybe the doctrinal translation is aberrant and not my rational down to earth translation.

I do not have an analysis available for the use of Greek anastasis, but it is made up from stasis (standing) and ana (again). I am not aware of the term being used to describe, say, getting out of bed in the morning (which folks do again and again every day) or other short term periods of non-standing. I do not think it is even used in conjunction with healing of a paralytic or other bedridden person, to indicate their return to normalcy.

You can search Perseus for the term (in all its many inflected forms) but there will likely be umpteen hits. Randomly sample them to see if any refer to the kind of situation you suggest, then "drill down" as they say.

DCH

[FransJVermeiren]

I am not aware of the term being used to described, say, getting out of bed in the morning (which folks do again and again every day) or other short term periods of non-standing.

ἀνάστασιν ... ἐξ ὕπνου : rise from sleep
Sophocles, Philoctetes 276

Or as the opposite of falling:
εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ: for the fall and rise of many in Israel
Luke 2: 34

[Ben C. Smith]

I am not aware of the term being used to described, say, getting out of bed in the morning (which folks do again and again every day) or other short term periods of non-standing.

ἀνάστασιν ... ἐξ ὕπνου : rise from sleep
Sophocles, Philoctetes 276

Or as the opposite of falling:
εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ: for the fall and rise of many in Israel
Luke 2: 34

The issue is not the word ἀνάστασις; nor is it the word νεκρός, though that is more important than ἀνάστασις. The issue is the phrase ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν: what does that phrase mean, especially in context (both the broad context of late Judaism and early Christianity and the narrow context of chapter 16 of the Didache). Had you found this phrase in some other Christian work with an uncommon meaning and had a sudden brainstorm ("ah, what if this usage casts light on Didache 16??"), it would be different. But, as far as I can tell, you simply decided that, since the dead do not rise, the word must not mean the truly dead. It is as if you are protecting the text from scientific error for some reason, much as modern evangelical Christians protect the entire Bible from error.

[DCHindley]

I am not aware of the term being used to described, say, getting out of bed in the morning (which folks do again and again every day) or other short term periods of non-standing.

ἀνάστασιν ... ἐξ ὕπνου : rise from sleep
Sophocles, Philoctetes 276

Or as the opposite of falling:
εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ: for the fall and rise of many in Israel
Luke 2: 34

OK, two examples. I don't think, though, that this rises to the level of "Ah ha"! At least the words ὕπνου (hypnou, a form of the word for "sleep") & πτῶσιν (ptōsin, a form of the word for "tripping/falling") tell you exactly what caused these folks to be not-standing. So, if the text says someone died or was dead and stood again, then to the listeners, they were dead and now were rising to their feet.

Our expectations mean nothing to them. We think scientifically (at least since about the 18th century, when discoveries in chemistry and advancements in the engineering of industrial machinery) but they just thought practically. If someone does not appear to be breathing, then that person is dead as a doorknob. You might as well "measure the shroud". I do not think it even mattered to them if the story was true (was X really dead as a doorknob?), they just liked the story in the message.

DCH

[FransJVermeiren]

OK, two examples.

Fourteen occurrences of ἀνάστασις in Josephus, zero resurrections. Any dictionary you open: rising, getting up is the fundamental meaning. Only 'resurrection' in the NT, aberrant use.

[spin]

Only 'resurrection' in the NT, aberrant use.

Aeschylus, Eumenides, 648 E G

(L&S "ἀνάστασις , εως, Ion. ιος, ἡ, I. Act., (ἀνίστημι) making to stand or rise up, raising up the dead")

[iskander]

I am not aware of the term being used to described, say, getting out of bed in the morning (which folks do again and again every day) or other short term periods of non-standing.

...
Or as the opposite of falling:
εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ: for the fall and rise of many in Israel

Luke 2: 34

Luke 2:34 is an informative verse. The vulgate interprets this verse as risen from the dead and remaining dead. This seems to have been the belief of early Christians.

Luke 2
34] et benedixit illis Symeon et dixit ad Mariam matrem eius ecce positus est hic in ruinam et resurrectionem multorum in Israhel et in signum cui contradicetur
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... g=original


Salvation from death. The just are resuscitated to live forever whereas the evil remain dead forever seems to have been the belief of early Christians.
Athanasius, on the Incarnation as the power to restore the ability to remain alive forever as Adam and Eve posses before the fall; humanity will once again be like God created Adam and Eve because of the victory of the second Adam over death. The Lord has risen and some will rise with him---and some will remain dead. The ' world to come ', is the rising of the dead in Judaism

But if they went astray and became vile, throwing away their birthright of beauty, then they would come under the natural law of death and live no longer in paradise, but, dying outside of it, continue in death and in corruption. This is what Holy Scripture tells us, proclaiming the command of God, "Of every tree that is in the garden thou shalt surely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ye shall not eat, but in the day that ye do eat, ye shall surely die."7 "Ye shall surely die"—not just die only, but remain in the state of death and of corruption.

On the Incarnation of the Word , Athanasius, St. Archbishop of Alexandria (c.296-c.373)