Hunches and Concerns
Mark Wilson
emory2oo2 at hotmail.com
Tue Jul 2 10:54:24 EDT 2002
Carl wrote:
-------
but he's more interested in
>doctrinal issues than I am to begin with, and this wouldn't be the forum
>for their discussion in any case.
-------
Agreed. But surely you do not study Greek and the GNT as
an end in itself. To say one is less interested in doctrinal
issues is, to me, like saying I am less interested in understanding
the Bible and its meaning. I am sure Carl did NOT mean it that way.
Carl wrote:
>(1) While I have had some serious disagreements with Ward Powers over the
>terminology used to designate the MAI/SAI/TAI/MHN/SO/TO and QH
>morphoparadigms, most of what I have argued with regard to this matter is
>not so much revolutionary (in ANY sense of that word) as it is a call for
>reform in terminology regarding voice morphology and semantics to reflect
>what has long been understood about the subject.
-------
Here is where I disagree. Bultmann, for example, presented a view
of first century Judaism that was being corrected/challenged by
many scholars as he wrote, but after all was said and done,
people simply accepted Bultmann's view without ever going to the
original sources. It took E.P. Sanders, years later, to come along and
demonstrate Bultmann's portrayal of Judaism as almost wholesale
without support. Once a certain person says it, that settles
it for the masses.
Ask any GNT Greek student to explain the M/P paradigm, and you
tell me if he gets within a hundred miles of Carl's presentation.
Uncritically, I suspect that most students' default understanding
of most M/P forms are Passive. It would not even occur to a student
of the GNT to give serious consideration to KATHRTISMENA in Romans
9:22 as a Middle.... that's a pretty serious passage on understanding
the Integrity of God.
Read Wallace on this verse GGBB... he claims the other occurrences of
KATHRTISMENA are almost all Passive... and yet I would say the
polar opposite. Now granted, Wallace is driven by a theological
bias as I am, but again, it is naive to assume that the implications
of this M/P paradigm and issue of voice are not extremely important.
Doing away with the Once-for-all Aorist was critical if you ask
me, because most Greek Students, I suspect, simply bought into
the idea. John MacArthur still preaches this from his pulpit today!!!
Doing away with the Divine Passive is no small matter.
And I am saying that the reason Carl's presentation of the M/P
is important is because what was once thought to settle a theological
issue based on OBJECTIVE evidence.... grammar.... has now been
done away with. Done away with if you buy into the implications
of the M/P Voice issues. Or, done away with at the scholarly level.
(This is why I think it critical not to downplay "doctrine."
Paul considered all things loss in exchange for what?! I guess
the next step is to quibble over what doctrine means.)
Carl wrote:
-----
>(2) Another notorious focus of bad terminology is the very word "tense" and
>the implications of its confusion of "time" and "aspect" inevitably arising
>from the
>derivation of "tense" from Fr. "temps." What on earth might we substitute
>for the word "tense" as a category inclusive of Present, Imperfect, Aorist,
>Future, Perfect, Pluperfect, and Future Perfect?
-----
This may be simplier than it first appears, if you buy into
the idea of a Deictic Center. One needs to invent a term that
denotes some referential notion. For example, the Present TENSE
is IN PROGRESS "in relation to" the DC. Whatever terms are used,
TENSE denotes the relationship between TWO TEMPORAL POINTS.
First, find the DC (deictic center).
Then, the various tenses stand in relationship to that.
Present: ON GOING "during" the DC
Imperfect: ON GOING "before" the DC
Pluperfect: ceased "before" the DC
Perfect: past act "current" at time of DC.
etc....
Any way, I'm going on vacation in about 20 minutes, so I hope
this post hasn't been to upsetting. If so.... I'm outta here! :o )
Mark Wilson
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