Strange, I remember growing up in church and people being so excited to go out and preach the gospel in Africa or some other shithole. Every week it was some lesson about the most important thing in life is spreading the gospel. I can't drive 5 miles in any direction without passing a church. No Christian in my entire adult life has ever approached me and tried to tell me about Christianity.
late Middle English: from Latin gentilis ‘of a family or nation, of the same clan’ (used in the Vulgate to refer to non-Jews), from gens, gent- ‘family, race’, from the root of gignere ‘beget’.
adjective
adjective: Gentile
1.
not Jewish.
adjective: gentile
2.
Anthropology
relating to or indicating a nation or clan, especially a gens.
noun
noun: gentile; plural noun: gentiles
Modern interpretation of the word would say all non jews. At the time it meant non Israelites. Israelites were not hook nosed goblins, they were men. So they belonged to a larger group. The larger group that Israelites belonged to would have been the gentiles.
But, this isn't looking at Greek interpretations of words. When the word gentile was chosen, it was done so by the Roman church who believed that essentially everyone in the world was essentially white. That word was likely chosen as Greek texts were being translated.
If you do a literal modern interpretation, it's all non jews. And in today's terms, everyone who's not a hook nosed demon.
adjective
adjective: Gentile
1.
not Jewish.
adjective: gentile
2.
Anthropology
relating to or indicating a nation or clan, especially a gens.
noun
noun: gentile; plural noun: gentiles
Modern interpretation of the word would say all non jews. At the time it meant non Israelites. Israelites were not hook nosed goblins, they were men. So they belonged to a larger group. The larger group that Israelites belonged to would have been the gentiles.
But, this isn't looking at Greek interpretations of words. When the word gentile was chosen, it was done so by the Roman church who believed that essentially everyone in the world was essentially white. That word was likely chosen as Greek texts were being translated.
If you do a literal modern interpretation, it's all non jews. And in today's terms, everyone who's not a hook nosed demon.