Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 17:2 (NA 2007)
Article: Μαθητής and Μιμητής: Exploring an Entangled Relationship
Author: Victor A. Copan

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BBR 17:2 (2007) p. 313

Μαθητής and Μιμητής:
Exploring an Entangled Relationship

Victor A. Copan

Palm beach Atlantic University

The precise relationship between μιμητής and μαθητής has been the source of scholarly debate for some time. The two major proposals of how to understand their relationship do not offer decisive evidence for their positions. In order to get beyond this impasse, this article looks at two sets of texts from the Common Era: texts where μιμητής occurs alone and texts in which both μιμητης and μαθητής occur. The contexts of both sets of texts are examined to discern if they reveal anything about the relationship between these terms in order to see which of these proposals (if any) are supported. Based on this data, preliminary conclusions about how to understand the relationship between these terms are offered.

Key Words: μιμητής, μαθητής, imitation, disciple

The curious phenomenon that μαθητής and cognates only occur in the Gospels and Acts, whereas μιμητής and cognates only occur in the Epistles provokes the question of the relationship between them.1 When we look at the usage of these terms in the first centuries of the Common Era, some texts seem to indicate that the term μιμητής may have obtained a technical edge to it, making it an apparent parallel to μαθητής. Then again, other texts of the Common Era seem to maintain clear distinctions between them. What is the explanation for this? Does the term μιμητής, in fact, become the substitute expression for μαθητής, or does it maintain its identity? If it does maintain its own identity, what then is the relationship between these two concepts? It is the purpose of this article to explore these questions. However, before we do so, we shall first review the two major proposals put forward regarding the relationship between discipleship and imitation.

BBR 17:2 (2007) p. 314

Proposal 1: Blending of Discipleship and Imitation

The foundational article on μιμέομαι (“to imitate”) by Michaelis in the TWNT concluded that μιμητής and μαθητής were synonymous.2 ...

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