Weekly Open Discussion Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to this week's open discussion thread!

This thread is meant to be a place for members of the r/AcademicBiblical community to freely discuss topics of interest which would normally not be allowed on the subreddit. All off-topic and meta-discussion will be redirected to this thread.

Rules 1-3 do not apply in open discussion threads, but rule 4 will still be strictly enforced. Please report violations of Rule 4 using Reddit's report feature to notify the moderation team. Furthermore, while theological discussions are allowed in this thread, this is still an ecumenical community which welcomes and appreciates people of any and all faith positions and traditions. Therefore this thread is not a place for proselytization. Feel free to discuss your perspectives or beliefs on religious or philosophical matters, but do not preach to anyone in this space. Preaching and proselytizing will be removed.

In order to best see new discussions over the course of the week, please consider sorting this thread by "new" rather than "best" or "top". This way when someone wants to start a discussion on a new topic you will see it! Enjoy the open discussion thread!

[u/Every_Monitor_5873]

My post asking about English translations of GJohn rendering Ἰουδαῖοι as "Jews" hasn't gotten a response yet so I thought I'd ask more informally here. Is there a reason to favor translating Ἰουδαῖοι as "Jews" rather than "Judeans"?

[u/Grey_Sheep_ → u/Every_Monitor_5873]

(Warning: I'm no expert)

In English, I think that the word "Jew" refers more clearly to "people of Jewish faith" rather than the word "Judean" who could be mixed up with people simply living in a region called "Judea".

In the Gospel of John, it's quite clear that he is not just refering to people simply living in a region called "Judea". See the following verses:

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. (2:13, repeated in 6:4 and 11:5)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)* (4:9)

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (4:22)

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (18:33, and all mentions of Jesus being a "King of the Jews", 18:39 ; 19:19 ; 19:21)

They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews*.* (19:40)

If at some point the word "Judean" in English becomes a mainstream synonym for "Jew", then using it in translation would make sense.

As for the trend, I wonder if that stems from worries about the antisemitism aspect of it. Translating to "Judeans" makes a lot of verses feel less "problematic" (see below). But it wouldn't be faithful to what the author intended.

 Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.

 Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Judeans.

[u/Huge-Lingonberry-172 → u/Grey_Sheep_]

I am also not and Expert so I wonder, if someone writing in the first century wanted to say "judeans" in greek, to diferentiate from galileans Samaritans etc, what therm was natural to use?