[B-Greek] Review of new Caragounis book
cmeadows3 at verizon.net
cmeadows3 at verizon.net
Tue Aug 2 12:33:42 EDT 2005
Carl,
Thanks so much for sharing this. I actually had ordered the book ($154.99 from the ever-reasonably priced Dovebook.com) but cancelled it after seeing Silva's review. I figured he would disagree with Porter and hopefully offer some insightful thoughts also - but it sounds like perhaps Caragounis is going to be a little off the beaten path. Perhaps I'll catch the book used some time in the future.
C Meadows
From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
>Date: Fri Jul 29 16:43:21 CDT 2005
>To: B-Greek B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: [B-Greek] Review of new Caragounis book
>Considerable interest was expressed last Fall when Wieland Willker
>first announced the publication of Chrys Caragounis? new book, _The
>Development of Greek and the New Testament_. A thread with the
>subject-header ?[B-Greek] Caragounis book? ran here for four days,
>2004.11.24-27. My own intense interest was roused by Wieland?s
>glowing recommendation (11/13/04): ?I found this one of the most
>interesting books I have read over the last
>years. Very knowledgeable. Really a must-have.?), and I began to look
>forward to going through the book myself, despite the whopper of a
>price tag.
>
>Publication details:
>Caragounis, Chrys C. The Development of Greek and the New Testament:
>Morphology, Syntax, Phonology, and Textual Transmission. Mohr
>Siebeck, 2004. XX, 732 pages (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum
>Neuen Testament / 167)
>ISBN 3-16-148290-5. cloth 129.00 Euro
>
>In view of the hefty price-tag and somewhat onerous process of
>acquisition (Amazon lists it for US $220 and hopes to ship it within
>2-3 months!), one thinking of investing in a personal copy may well
>wonder whether it?s worth it. I assume that there will be at least
>one BMCR review of it as well as RBL reviews, but I thought list-
>members might be interested to learn of Moises Silva?s lengthy review
>of Caragounis? book scheduled for publication in the Fall 2005
>Westminster Theological Journal. Professor Silva has shared with me
>the text of his review and Caragounis has seen and responded to it,
>although it is unclear whether the response will be published.
>
>Caragounis? book has a dual focus upon the diachronic development of
>the Greek language over the course of more than three millennia and
>upon precise determination of the pronunciation of the language; both
>of these matters he clearly deems to be of fundamental importance for
>a proper understanding of the text of the Greek NT. With regard to
>pronunciation the fundamental stance of Caragounis was set forth in
>his paper published in Filolog?a Neotestamentaria 8 (1995) 151-185,
>?The Error of Erasmus and un-Greek pronunciations of Greek? ? the
>text is accessible at http://www.bsw.org/?l=72081&a=Art06.html
>
>While Silva?s evaluation is fundamentally negative, he does note that
>the book should be taken seriously: ?I would urge students of the LXX
>and the NT-indeed, anyone seriously interested in Hellenistic Greek
>literature generally-to read and pay careful attention to
>Caragounis's monograph. In various respects, this work can provide a
>much-needed corrective to modern scholarship. Unfortunately, however,
>readers must also be urged to exercise great discrimination in their
>use of the material, much of which is highly problematic and
>misleading.?
>
>Specifically Silva finds exaggerated some of the claims made by
>Caragounis for the uniqueness of the Greek language and its unbroken
>continuity; indeed he speaks of Caragounis? ?romanticized conception?
>of the language. Granting that much of what C. claims about the
>continuity of Greek is valid, Silva objects to C.?s insistence that
>traditional grammatical categories are perfectly adequate for
>describing and analyzing pronunciation, forms, and usage without
>bringing to bear any cross-linguistic data or analytical
>methodologies from the field of Linguistics.
>
>C. claims that evidence demonstrates that the pronunciation of Greek
>has remained fundamentally intact since the era of classical Attic;
>Silva notes: ?he devotes great effort to prove that from as early as
>the fourth or fifth century BC until the present, Greek speakers have
>used what he calls the HGP (Historical Greek Pronunciation), which he
>claims has not changed in any significant way. This would mean that
>as far back as the time of Thucydides, (1) there was no pitch accent;
>(2) there were no long/short vowel distinctions; (3) the consonants
>th_ta-phi-chi were not pronounced as aspirates but as fricatives
>(cf. English th [unvoiced] and f, German ch); (4) ai and e were
>pronounced alike; (5) au and eu were pronounced av/af and ev/ef; (6)
>there was no distinction in the pronunciation of i-_-y-ei-oi-yi (in
>Modern Greek all six of these are pronounced roughly like ee in
>English [a bit higher and without the glide] or, better, like i in
>Spanish).?It is generally accepted that there was a pitch-accent in
>use through the period of classical Attic and that the accents that
>appear in the MSS represent that tonal accent; C. insists rather that
>there is no evidence that Greek was ever pronounced that way.
>
>Silva also asserts that C. ?s ?unrestrained jeremiad against Stanley
>Porter?s view that the ancient Greek verb does not express time but
>only aspect? misrepresents and so does a great disservice to one of
>the more important contributions of Linguistics to understanding the
>ancient Greek verb. ?? Porter's opinion on this specific issue is not
>at all representative of the field, and although Caragounis does
>point out that Porter is the scholar ?who holds the most radical
>view? (p. 316), the discussion ends up painting other specialists,
>such as Kenneth McKay and Buist Fanning, with the same brush.
>Moreover, the author's evident frustration with Porter, bordering on
>anger, prevents him from appreciating-and therefore from
>communicating to the reader-what the real issues are. ?
>
>I?ll not cite other specific critical comments from Silva?s review
>but jump to his conclusion: ?I picked up this book with positive
>expectations. In some respects it did not disappoint, and again I
>affirm that much in this volume is instructive and of great value. As
>I worked my way through it, however, so many troubling details
>surfaced that I considered not reviewing it at all rather than
>publishing a negative assessment. Yet in view of Caragounis's strong
>credentials and the prestige of the series in which the volume has
>been included, it is necessary to alert potential readers to its
>problems. In spite of the author's indisputable gifts, his strong
>convictions, and the forceful language with which he expresses his
>views, there is much in this book that is simply unreliable.?
>
>I should add that Caragounis has seen and responded to Silva?s review
>with what amounts to a vitriolic assertion that the review is
>essentially a matter of personal spite over disagreements on some key
>issues. I hope that the reviews and responses to come will generate
>at least as much light as they will heat. We shall see.
>
>
>Carl W. Conrad
>Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
>1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
>cwconrad2 at mac.com
>WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
>
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