Greek word Pistis
Pistis is a Greek word that I'm researching for a paper. Depending on the context, it can mean faith, faithful, or faithfulness. The terms "faith" and "faithful" are distinct in English. "Faith" refers to our confidence or trust in another person or an idea's veracity; "faithful" and "faithfulness" refer to our loyalty to a person, a group, or even an idea in which we have faith. However, these are distinct concepts in English, which means that when we use them, we recognize them as such. Because of this, depending on the context, different words are required to translate "pistis." Despite the fact that occasionally one aspect of the faith/faithful meaning will be highlighted, the Greek word "pistis" does not distinguish between these ideas. I contend that we should never see pistis as faith apart from faithful/faithfulness. I need help finding linguistic, semantic and theological reasons for this argument. Any thoughts?
Comments
-
the equivalent of the lexical sense in Logos for the related words in English:
Visual Wordnet - Your results for "faith". Now click these links and get your Word Maps!
article of faith, MEANING: "an unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence"
article of faith, MEANING: "(Christianity) any of the sections into which a creed or other statement of doctrine is divided"
faith, MEANING: "loyalty or allegiance to a cause or a person; keep the faith; they broke faith with their investors "
faith, MEANING: "complete confidence in a person or plan etc; he cherished the faith of a good woman; the doctor-patient relationship is based on trust "
faith, MEANING: "a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny; he lost his faith but not his morality "
faith, MEANING: "an institution to express belief in a divine power; he was raised in the Baptist religion; a member of his own faith contradicted him "
faith cure, MEANING: "care provided through prayer and faith in God"
faith healing, MEANING: "care provided through prayer and faith in God"
faithful, MEANING: "a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church"
faithful, MEANING: "any loyal and steadfast following"
faithful, MEANING: "marked by fidelity to an original; a close translation; a faithful copy of the portrait; a faithful rendering of the observed facts "
faithful, MEANING: "steadfast in affection or allegiance; years of faithful service; faithful employees; we do not doubt that England has a faithful patriot in the Lord Chancellor "
faithful, MEANING: "not having sexual relations with anyone except your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend; he remained faithful to his wife "
faithfully, MEANING: "in a faithful manner; it always came on, faithfully, like the radio "
faithfulness, MEANING: "the quality of being faithful"
faithless, MEANING: "having the character of, or characteristic of, a traitor; the faithless Benedict Arnold; a lying traitorous insurrectionist "
faithlessly, MEANING: "in a disloyal and faithless manner; he behaved treacherously; his wife played him false "
faithlessness, MEANING: "unfaithfulness by virtue of being unreliable or treacherous"
full faith and credit, MEANING: "a guarantee to pay interest and principal on debt; usually issued by the United States Treasury"
good faith, MEANING: "having honest intentions; he acted in good faith; doubt was expressed as to the good faith of the immigrants "
interfaith, MEANING: "involving persons of different religious faiths; an interfaith marriage; interfaith good will "
on faith, MEANING: "with trust and confidence; we accepted him on faith "
unfaithful, MEANING: "not trustworthy; an unfaithful reproduction "
unfaithful, MEANING: "not true to duty or obligation or promises; an unfaithful lover "
unfaithful, MEANING: "having sexual relations with someone other than your husband or wife, or your boyfriend or girlfriend; her husband was unfaithful "
unfaithful, MEANING: "having the character of, or characteristic of, a traitor; the faithless Benedict Arnold; a lying traitorous insurrectionist "
unfaithfully, MEANING: "in an unfaithful undependable unreliable manner"
unfaithfulness, MEANING: "the quality of being unfaithful"Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
"In the monad's mystical dance, zetetic minds seek faerie's glance. Pistis guides the Socratic Method's trance, as Terra Classic's divine vision & #LMSC sacred specialists' influence enhance."
0 -
Teresa Morgan, Roman Faith and Christian Faith (Oxford UP). Similarly, Nijay Gupta, Paul and the Language of Faith. Some of your statements about pistis (in your post) might not stand up to scrutiny.
0
