[B-Greek] An Accessible Brief Introduction to Greek Verbal Aspect
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri May 13 09:09:58 EDT 2011
On May 13, 2011, at 8:48 AM, Louis Sorenson wrote:
> Does anyone know how this recent book by Zondervan lines up with the current Porter / Fanning debate
> and modern linguistics? There are blurbs on the back by Porter and Rodney Decker. Even exercises.
> It sounds like Porter disagrees with the author.
>
> Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek by Constantine R. Campbell. (Oct 2008. ISBN:9780310290834)
> http://www.amazon.com/Basics-Verbal-Aspect-Biblical-Greek/dp/031029083X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1305289471&sr=8-1
Zondervan did an almost shameless publicity drive on this book, sponsoring a spate of reviews by people at every level of the spectrum.
I think it's a useful introduction to the issues involved, but my fundamental complaint about the book is the title: it has no right to be
called a "primer" on the subject as if the dust had already settled and the perspective here presented were a matter of common consensus.
There is no common consensus but rather a variety of perspectives, some of the issues being reasonably resolved while others remain
disputed. I personally think Campbell's treatment of the Perfect tense is inadequate, and many, I think, would question his acceptance of
the "aspect-only" notion of the Aorist (Porter's view) as if it were a matter of consensus. My own brief review of the work is still accessible
as a 2008 guest blog post at James Spinti's "Idle Musings of a Bookseller":
http://anebooks.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-of-campbells-basics-of-verbal.html
A simple Google search will net you lots of reviews from a variety of perspectives.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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