[B-Greek] Phil 3:13 causal ptc
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Mar 1 06:06:13 EST 2006
On Feb 28, 2006, at 8:30 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
> ADELFOI, EGW EMAUTON OU LOGIZOMAI KATEILHFENAI. hEN
> DE, TA MEN OPISW EPILANQANOMENOS TOIS DE EMPROSQEN
> EPEKTEINOMENOS, KATA SKOPON DIWKW EIS TO BRABEION
THS ANW KLHSEWS TOU QEOU EN CRISTWi IHSOU.
For clarity's sake, I think that it helps to have the main clause
filled in.
> I was wondering if it could be understood to be saying
> that Paul disregarded those thing behind him BECAUSE
> OF his preoccupation with stretching toward the things
> ahead. It seems to me that what is preoccupying Paul
> is not the conscious act of assessing and disregarding
> the things behind him, but rather his attention, is so
> drawn to what lies ahead, that he "ipso facto"
> disregards the things behind. Would the DE however
> make a causal participle more unlikely?
Inasmuch as both participles, EPILANQANOMENOS and EPEKTEINOMENOS, are
present tense and are, as you note, coordinated with the MEN ... DE
markers of parallelism/antithesis, I think both should function the
same way in relationship to the main verb DIWKW. I really think both
these participles point to attitudes taken while the athlete is "in
the chase." Seems to me it's almost as if he's saying, "Whenever I'm
on course for the prize of the upward call, I forget what's behind me
and press toward what's before me ..." Perhaps the discourse analysts
have a principle regarding this, but I've noticed that the real
emphasis of a statement is sometimes in the participle rather than in
the main verb.
At any rate, I don't think that the verbal action indicated by one of
these coordinated participles could be related CAUSALLY to the verbal
action indicated by the other.
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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