[B-Greek] Absent Definite Article strips Personality from The Holy Spirit
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Mon Jun 15 14:35:40 EDT 2009
A brief review of the presence/absence of the article with QEOS in
comparison to PNEUMA in the GNT doesn't reveal any substantial
differences. QEOS as PNEUMA has referential ambiguity in the GNT.
QEOS is used frequently without the article. Any argument about PNEUMA
without the article might also be applied to QEOS. G.Cooper[1]
1.50.3.4 p.397 states "(hO) QEOS God and (hO) ANQROPOS are conceptions
both personal and generic. Therefore with them a conflict is set up
between the usage natural for proper nouns, i.e. omission of the
article, and that natural for generically conceived individuals, i.e.
use of the article. As a result the article is used, or omitted,
usually though not always without any distinction."
The way I read Cooper, any attempt to tie the article with QEOS to
notions like personal/impersonal fails before it gets started.
Elizabeth Kline
[1] G.Cooper (Greek Syntax, four volumes) devotes 200 pages (v.1 & v.
3) to discussion and illustration of the greek article.
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