> There are several examples of X of Y phrases
> where X and Y are synonyms. I take Y in these cases as genitive of
> apposition, and understand the construction as a device for elevating
> the tone of the language.
This is interesting! I read this passage about a week ago, and was
thoroughly convinced I had understood what I read. Since then, here and in
private email, I keep bumping into new stuff to consider.
My feeling for the tone is a little different. I feel the writer getting
excited, not lofty. When I read this passage out loud, I find myself getting
loud and emphatic, like a preacher rocking the congregation with the rhythm
of his voice to drive a point home. It is pretty dangerous for someone with
as limited exposure as me to postulate about the tone of a passage, but
that's what it feels like to me.
> 1:5 KATA THN EUDOKIAN TOU QELHMATOS AUTOU
> 1:11 KATA THN BOULHN TOU QELHMATOS AUTOU
> 1:19 THN ENERGEIAN TOU KRATOUS THS ISCUOS AUTOU
Someone else, in private email, suggested this is just bad Greek. So now we
have three theories about the tone of this passage.
So now for the quiz. Which best describes the tone of Ephesians 1?
(a) Bad Greek
(b) Lofty Greek
(c) Excited, emphatic, carried-away Greek
(d) All of the above
(e) None of the above (please explain)
(f) Some combination of the above (please explain)
Answers will be graded on a curve ;->
Jonathan
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Jonathan Robie
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