[B-Greek] Syntax of Lists in Biblical Greek
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Oct 27 14:35:26 EDT 2007
On Oct 27, 2007, at 1:30 PM, Tony Monaghan wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Let me introduce myself: My name is Tony Monaghan, and I am an OPC
> (Orthodox Presbyterian Church) minister in Charlottesville
> Virginia. As a note, I used the bwgrkl font I have in my ancient
> version of Bible Works for the embedded Greek.
Welcome to B-Greek. As a new subscriber, you should read the B-Greek
FAQ at
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/faq.html
One thing you'll need there is our protcol for transcribing Greek
texts: we use a standard transliteration scheme that normally uses
upper-case Roman ASCII characters -- or else we use Unicode (UTF-8)
but always accompany that with a BG standard transliteration. Your
bwgrk1 font is fine for those who have that font in their operating
system, but it comes up as gobbledygook for those who
don't have it.
I'll reformulate your text as we'd normally do it on B-Greek -- and
leave it to other list-members to respond to the question(s).
>
> My question is about lists and the subordination of clauses in
> Koine Greek generally, and more closely the NT.
>
> Examples of passages might be a classic one - Ephesians 4:11, 12
Eph. 4:11 Καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν τοὺς μὲν
ἀποστόλους, τοὺς δὲ προφήτας, τοὺς
δὲ εὐαγγελιστάς, τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας
καὶ διδασκάλους, 12 πρὸς τὸν
καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων εἰς ἔργον
διακονίας, εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ
σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
KAI AUTOS EDWKEN TOUS MEN APOSTOLOUS, TOUS DE PROFHTAS, TOUS DE
EUAGGELISTAS, TOUS DE POIMENAS KAI DIDASKALOUS, 12 PROS TON
KATARTISMON TWN hAGIWN EIS ERGON DIAKONIAS, EIS OIKODOMHN TOU SWMATOS
TOU CRISTOU.
> There Paul uses MENand DEas list markers and then switches to PROS
> and EIS. Seemingly (at least to my rather limited knowledge) this
> switch is related to the contrast between nouns (offices) and
> verbs (actions), although all the actions are treated as nouns
> rather than as verbs.
>
> Another is Philippians 3: 8 ff
>
> There Paul introduces a seeming list of purpose clauses with hINA
> plus the subjunctive in verse 8 (ἵνα Χριστὸν
> κερδήσω hINA CRISTON KERDHSW), continues with a subjunctive
> - lacking HINA in verse 9 -καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ
> KAI hEUREQW EN AUTWi
> switches to an infinitive in verse 10 (γνῶναι αὐτὸν
> καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως
> αὐτοῦ GNWNAI AUTON KAI THN DUNAMIN THS ANASTASEWS AUTOU) and
> then returns to a subjunctive in verse 11 (εἴ πως
> καταντήσω εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν
> τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν EI PWS KATANTHSW EIS THN EXANASTASIN THN
> EK NEKRWN) again, without INA.
>
> My surmise is that the infinitive in verse 10 is used to tie that
> purpose clause to the major clause of verse 9, rather than the list
> begun in verse 8, but I was interested in the opinion of the list.
>
> I have a number of questions.
>
> 1) Does anyone remember if there a discussion of these subjects in
> the archive? It is a rather daunting task to sift through the entire
> archive for something which might well not be there. It is also
> tedious for the list to revisit something well examined previously.
>
> 2) Does anyone know of a study which documents and examines
> different list mechanisms in Koine Greek? I suppose a study of
> Attic forms would be useful, if not as useful.
>
> 3) Has anyone considered either passage and gathered a solid
> opinion? I am aware of Dr. Johnson's (of Westminster California)
> study on the Ephesians passage.
>
> Many thanks,
> Tony Monaghan
Carl W. Conrad
Co-Chair, B-Greek List
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