verbanagnorizesthai. Gen. 45:1 as well as Philo’s paraphrase (On
Joseph237) emphasize how Joseph sent Egyptians out immediately
before this event so that the recognitive encounter takes place among
family members only.
The Aristotelian idea ofanagnorisis has been argued to have
exegetical significance in Johannine writings.^2 Looking generally at
the verbsginosko/epiginoskoin the New Testament, they have theo-
logical meanings that can be interpreted in this manner in John and
some Pauline letters. John 10:3–5, 14–15, 27 tells the parable of the
sheep that recognize the voice of the shepherd:
[the shepherd] calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When
he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep
follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a
stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the
voice of strangers...14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and
my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father...27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.In this passage, the Greek text employsoidain 10:4–5 andginoskoin
10:14–15 and 27. The Latin Vulgate employsscioandnoscoin 10:4–5,
andcognosco,nosco, andagnoscoin 10:14–15, 27. The appearance of
ginosko/agnoscoin 10:15 is striking, since it depicts the point at which
the storyteller Jesus recognizes the Father. At the same time, we
cannot draw clear conclusions regarding terminology.
A similar mutuality of religious knowing is expressed in Gal. 4:8– 9
by the verbsoida(4:8, Vulgate:ignorantes Dei) andginosko(4:9,
Vulgate:cognoveritis Deum):
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings
that by nature are not gods. 9 Now, however, that you have come to
know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again
to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be
enslaved to them again?In both John 10:14 and Gal. 4:9ginosko/cognoscois employed to
describe a mutuality that occurs in religious knowledge. Knowing
God/the good shepherd means that this knower is also known by the
other. Such mutuality means an attachment by which the sheep
(^2) Bro Larsen 2008.
The Latin Traditions 43