Evangelion

See here for Wheless and here for McKinsey.

Vorkosigan

One thing I've learned about IIDB is that hardcore atheists will clutch at any possible objection in order to defend their presuppositions.

'vange, there is nothing funnier than a theist accusing others he is too cowardly to name of intellectual desperation. Even funnier, a theist who invents idiosyncratic translations so he can desperately explain away a contradiction.

Vorkosigan

Evangelion

Thankyou for your wild over-reaction, Vork. Nice to see that I've hit a nerve.

So I'm no longer allowed to refer to "hardcore atheists" unless I specify each and every one of them by name? Don't be ridiculous. If the Infidels here are not required to specify each and every theist by name every time when they refer to "Fundies" or "theists" in general, I don't see why I have to do the same with hardcore atheists. Your double standard merely betrays your subjectivity.

But just to be fair, I'll throw you a couple of bones: Wheless and McKinsey. Hardcore atheists IMHO.

I didn't invent anything. I cited LSJ, Clarke's Commentary and Scullard, all of whom confirm that my interpretation is correct. Disagree with them if you will, but in doing so you surrender your credibility. "LSJ must be wrong because Vork disagrees with Evangelion's interpretation of the temptation account"? Alas, no.

To recap:

• Kosmos is indeed used in the way I said it was. (Of states and governments.)
  
• Oikoumeme is indeed used in the way I said it was. (Of the land of the Greeks; of the Roman Empire; of Palestine as a whole; of Judea specifically.) Its consistent use in the LXX is more than sufficient to prove this.
  
• The census was indeed of Judea only, and it did indeed take place in AD 6.

My interpretation is consistent both with the textual evidence and the historical record.

You have no argument here. QED.