J. Kalvesmaki jdkalv at u.washington.edu
Wed Jul 28 18:06:59 EDT 1999

>I'll take a closer look at the 114 instances of EKKLHSIA in the GNT, but
>I really expect to find the great majority of them in reference to local
>congregations rather than the universal body of believers. That is the
>chief reason why one might prefer to use "gathering," "meeting," or
>"congregation" than "church"--because it is less likely to be misleading
>to an English reader who tends to think of "church" in all its ambiguity.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned that the choice of the English
word depends upon the projected audience and their respective
theology/ecclesiology. In my own tradition, Orthodox Christian, the term
"church" does not at all preclude the meaning of the gathering of the
local body, primarily because our ecclesiology differs from that of, say,
a Catholic, Protestant, or post-Christian Westerner.

Furthermore, no one has mentioned how much the tranlator's purpose plays
in the choice of word. What are you hoping to accomplish through it all?
This will play a major role in what word you choose.

Just an attempt to add elements to this discussion that seems lacking. The
concept of translation is at *least* a four place relation: Person W
writes English "meaning" X of text Y for audience Z. So far, most have
paid attention only to elements X & Y.

Joel D Kalvesmaki		 
University of Washington                   Catholic University of America
Alumnus, Classics and Philosophy    Matriculated, Early Christian Studies

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