[B-Greek] GRAFW of remote causation

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Mon Apr 2 12:47:58 EDT 2007


JN 21:24 hOUTOS ESTIN hO MAQHTHS hO MARTURWN PERI TOUTWN KAI hO  
GRAYAS TAUTA, KAI OIDAMEN hOTI ALHQHS AUTOU hH MARTURIA ESTIN.

Richard Bauckham [1] challenges the notion that GRAFW was used in the  
NT with a subject/agent who was only remotely involved with the  
document which was produced. A modern example would be Ferdinand  
deSaussure's Cour de Linguistique Generale which was compiled from  
student notes. I don't intend to start a discussion of authorship of  
any particular NT book, this is a question about the lexical  
semantics of GRAFW.

Bauckham mentions J.N. Bernard (ICC, John p.713) as an often cited  
source for this idea. However, Bernard didn't really take the idea  
very far and his proposal was refuted as early as 1930 by F.R.M  
Hitchcock "The Use of GRAPEIN," JTS 31 1930, pp. 271-75. A more  
radical treatment of GRAFW (remote causation) is found in TDNT Vol. 1  
p. 743 Gottlob Schrenk. Bauckham sets forth to refute G.Schrenk on  
this issue.

No one questions that GRAFW can be used in the NT of someone giving  
dictation (e.g. Paul), the notion that I would like to discuss here  
is strictly GRAFW used in the same sense that Ferdinand deSaussure is  
the remote cause of Cour de Linguistique Generale. Can anyone bring  
to light evidence that GRAFW was used in that manner in the GNT or in  
other ancient Greek texts?


Elizabeth Kline


[1] Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as  
Eyewitness Testimony ,  Eerdmans, 2006  ISBN: 080283162 pp. 360f.




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