[B-Greek] hO QEOS in ROM. 1:28
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Thu May 15 13:34:40 EDT 2008
On May 15, 2008, at 7:59 AM, Steve Runge wrote:
> If QEOS had been the subject of the KAQWS clause, the NP would
> clearly have been redundant in the main clause. With a change in
> role from non-subject to subject (which represents a change in
> initiators) it is very common to encode the change using a NP
> instead of zero anaphora. The rationale for this would most likely
> be to avoid ambiguity. If the NP had been omitted in the main
> clause, one would be left to assume that God is the subject. Changes
> in initiators are not typically under encoded, more encoding seems
> preferred.
ROM. 1:24 DIO PAREDWKEN AUTOUS hO QEOS EN TAIS EPIQUMIAIS ...
ROM. 1:26 DIA TOUTO PAREDWKEN AUTOUS hO QEOS EIS PAQH ATIMIAS ...
ROM. 1:28 KAI KAQWS OUK EDOKIMASAN TON QEON ECEIN EN EPIGNWSEI,
PAREDWKEN AUTOUS hO QEOS EIS ADOKIMON NOU
Steve,
You are overlooking the global VIP status of hO QEOS. In narrative,
" ... the default encoding of the global VIP as subject, when he was
in a non-subject role in the precious clause, is no overt
reference ... " Levinsohn 2000:143.
Once again, I am not arguing that hO QEOS is unnecessary in Rom 1:28.
The purpose of hO QEOS in Rom 1:28 is not primarily to provide
information, that is to identify the subject of PAREDWKEN. The tree
occurrences of PAREDWKEN AUTOUS hO QEOS EN/EIS ... drive home the
point that it is hO QEOS who PAREDWKEN AUTOUS EN/EIS ... . Paul is
using a very common rhetorical technique, say it three times with
variations in what follows EN/EIS.
Elizabeth Kline
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