[B-Greek] 1 Cor. 14:8 word order

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun May 29 08:16:07 EDT 2005


 
On Sunday, May 29, 2005, at 07:58AM, Jim West <jwest at highland.net> wrote:

>
>
>Carl W Conrad wrote:
>
>>But in fact this sort of emphatic placement of ADHLON is perfectly common
>>in ancient Greek and needs no Hebrew background to explain it.
>>
>>Also worth noting is that the adjective is ADHLON, not AHLON: I think AHLON
>>would mean something like "un-nailed."
>>
>>  
>>
>
>But in point of fact, Paul was a Jew.  Thus it would be perfectly 
>reasonable for a well trained Rabbi such as he was, knowledgeable of 
>Hebrew as he was, that he would think in Hebrew.  That the construction 
>of the sentence is acceptable Greek does not change the fact that it is 
>also typical Hebrew.  One almost hears remnants of the notion that there 
>is no Hebrew influence in the Greek of the New Testament at all.  I 
>would dispute that misunderstanding.

We've been over this several times in the past, Jim. I've never argued that
Hebraic influence is wanting in the GNT or in Paul. What I do believe (and
I don't believe that my view is far-out) is that Paul spoke/wrote Greek like
a native and that he was familiar with Greek rhetoric and with much of Greek
philosophical tradition. I think that the whole of 1 Corinthians show clear
and convincing evidence of those facts. This is not an either/or Hebrew-or-Greek 
matter. We differ in our judgment on this matter, clearly, but I believe that 
the placement of ADHLON in the passage in question does not require any
explanation in terms of non-Greek thought patterns. Indeed ADHLON is so placed
that it would be appropriate to translate its predicative force: "If the trumpet
sounds a note such that it is INDISTINCT, ..."

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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