(no subject)
Am I the only one who finds it annoying when a greek text replaces mentions of the gods, with the singular word god? It is really pretentious, as we know that the greeks did not believe in god, but a pantheon of gods! And why is that the same word anyway?
I understand that it makes it easier for a christian reader to identify with the sentiment of the thing without sharing the religion that the ancient greeks had, but it was often done that christians would spread their religion by using a story which substituted the local gods for some mention of the christian god. Everybody knows that the ancient greeks existed before christianity was founded, and that their beliefs were surrounded by excellent storytelling, which has made it through the roman empire into the popular culture that we have today, and people still tell stories of the greek gods, so why should translators of the ancient texts presume that they can substitute references to the nature of these gods, with references to a deity which is fundamentally inconsistent?
I understand that it makes it easier for a christian reader to identify with the sentiment of the thing without sharing the religion that the ancient greeks had, but it was often done that christians would spread their religion by using a story which substituted the local gods for some mention of the christian god. Everybody knows that the ancient greeks existed before christianity was founded, and that their beliefs were surrounded by excellent storytelling, which has made it through the roman empire into the popular culture that we have today, and people still tell stories of the greek gods, so why should translators of the ancient texts presume that they can substitute references to the nature of these gods, with references to a deity which is fundamentally inconsistent?