[B-Greek] "Do not insist on classical distinctions"

Dr. Don Wilkins drdwilkins at verizon.net
Mon Sep 22 14:18:46 EDT 2008


Well said, Carl. It's exciting to see that the old dog of early Greek  
can teach us new tricks. And if I may switch metaphors, it makes a  
lot more sense to build a house from the foundation up than from the  
roof down.

Don Wilkins

On Sep 20, 2008, at 5:31 AM, Carl W.Conrad wrote:

> Rick Brannan in his most recent blog entry (Friday, Sept. 19:  
> http://www.supakoo.com/rick/ricoblog/2008/09/19/ 
> BestParagraphIveReadToday.aspx
>   = http://tinyurl.com/5x9hlt) calls attention to the above admonition
> in Richard Young's _Intermediate New Testament Greek : A linguistic
> and exegetical approach_.
>
> The full paragraph:
>
> "Do not insist on classical distinctions—As noted above, Hellenistic
> Greek is not characterized by the strict usage of classical Greek. The
> preposition ἐν, for example, displays a wide variety of meanings
> beyond its root idea, much of which comes from Semitic influence. One
> of the major shortcomings of Lenski’s commentaries is his tendency  
> to
> insist on the classical meaning of ἐν. Moule (1968:49) states,  
> “It
> is a mistake to build exegetical conclusions on the notion that
> Classical accuracy in the use of prepositions was maintained in the
> κοινή period.” In connection with this, it might be misleading
> to say any preposition (especially ἐν [EN]) has a literal or proper
> meaning. Rather prepositions have a range of possible meanings with
> some more common than others."
>
> I can recall pretty vividly my own awakening to some usages of EN in
> Biblical Greek that astounded me, and more than fifty years of study
> have not inured me to the shock of learning surprising new things
> about ancient Greek (like Solon, GHRASKW (KAGW) AEI POLLA
> DIDASKOMENOS). I guess the instrumental usage of EN hit me earliest
> (Mk 1:7 βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι
> ἁγίῳ [BAPTISEI hUMAS EN PNEUMATI AGIWi]) -- and then, checking
> LSJ brought to light that the instrumental usage of EN while not so
> common does indeed appear in earlier Greek -- even in Homer.
>
> So at least a couple caveats come to my mind when I see this
> admonition that Rick has neatly called to our attention:
> (1) Are we really quite aware of "classical distinctions" between
> prepositions -- and other supposed differentiations as well?
> (2) How rigorously distinguished in fact are those "classical
> distinctions" in earlier Greek? (Elizabeth Kline called attention
> recently to usage of APO + genitive to indicate agent with a passive
> verb in a text from Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus, then to comparable
> usage in Acts 2:24 and 4:36. Is this a poetic distinction in Classical
> Attic? No; LSJ describes it as "of the person from whom an act comes,
> i.e. by whom it is done" and cites instances in Herodotus and
> Thucydides and even Plato.
>
> All of which inclines me once again to insist, as does Caragounis (The
> Development of Greek and the New Testament), that NT Koine is a
> language in flux and that understanding and describing it accurately
> involve appreciation of Greek forms and usage prior to and subsequent
> to the era of NT Koine. There are alpha-aorist forms of second-aorist
> roots already in Homer (HNEGKA and ECEA) and the modern Greek usage of
> NA + subjunctive is prefigured in the range of hINA substantive
> clauses in the NT Koine.
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
>
> ---
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