The Intrusive Pronoun: An Index

When I first wrote about the intrusive "his" and "him" in the prologue to John's gospel, I had intended this passage to be one of three places where we see the masculine singular pronoun intrude into the English text with little or no justification. Since this first case still warrants some discussion, I will index these posts with a view to adding the other two passages later.

To clear up any misconception, let me explain that the underlying Greek for "him" in John 1:3 - πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο - does, in fact, have a masculine grammatical gender. There is no evidence whatsoever for either the feminine or neuter in the Greek linguistic structure.

However, the German, English and French Bibles of the Reformation translated John 1:3 so that the pronoun would agree grammatically with the antecedent, ὁ λόγος, the word. In German it is neuter to agree with das Wort, in French it is feminine to agree with la parole, and in English it used to be translated as "it," an inanimate pronoun, as best fits the inanimate noun "word."

However, from the time of the KJV on, in Christian translations, this phrase has been translated with "him" instead.

I am not writing about theology here. You may choose your theology. But you cannot choose the history of interpretation, you can only study it. For some reason, a chasm has opened up between the Greek, as well as other European languages, and modern English translations, with respect to this passage, and we would do well to reconsider it.

If, as some have suggested, the logos can be equated to sophia or hokmah (wisdom), then we also need to compare the representation of gender in passages dealing with sophia. Enough of that for now. Here is a tentative index of posts.

Posts here.

John 1:3

• All things were made by it ...
• All things were made by her ...
• The Messianic daughter
• Gender and Translation: an introduction
• Reason and Wisdom in Gregory of Nyssa
• why is sophia silent?
• Grammatical and Biological Gender
• How to translate gender
• A theology of wisdom and word
  

Posts Elsewhere

Aristotle's Feminist Subject

• par elle, et elle a habité parmi nous,
• a Jewish understanding of the text
• John's Greek Rhetorical Prologue
• Jewish Rhetorics of the translated text
• translating Light of the World
  

Gentle Wisdom

• The Word: he, she or it?

The Church of Jesus Christ

• The Theological, Political and Social Dangers
• Continuing Discussion on John's Prologue
• Qumran and John's Prologue
• Examining Traditions and Translation: Logos and Sophia
  
• Patristic Interaction with Logos and Sophia
• John's Epilogue
• More towards a Theology of Wisdom and Word
  

Ecce Homo

• Translating the Prologue of John's Gospel

Castle of Nutshells

• Does anyone have a theology of wisdom and word?