their survey of the uses gathered from TLG across several centuries: if Irons is right to assert that “only begotten” is the most common meaning of the Greek word when a responsible synchronic study is undertaken, the default assumption ought to rest with the older interpretation, not with the modern consensus. Nevertheless, three observations might not be out of place. First, Irons himself (unlike some of his supporters and cheerleaders) is careful to say, “My claim is not that monogenēs always