When Oscar Wilde was studying the classics at Oxford, he had to take an
oral exam to test his knowledge of Greek. [Utinam sit sic hodie!] The
examiners looked at him, sensed that he was "an effete and 'difficult'
young man" and set him the most difficult text to translate in the GNT:
Acts 27, the shipwreck with its extensive use of nautical language.
"That will be all, Mr. Wilde," the examiners said whey Oscar (a
brilliant Greek st udent) made an effortrless translation, "Oh, please,
exclaimed Wilde, "do lete me go on--I am longing to know how the story
finishes."
I learned this bit of trivia from A. N. Wilson, <italic>Paul:The Mind
of the Apostle</italic> (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1997)
21-22. [The book is not all that great otherwise.]
Luke is, as Edward said, a good stylist. No wonder Ernst Renan colled
Luke the most beautiful book ever written. John writes correct, but
rather monotonous Greek (I am speaking of style, not theology!)
Final note. Spoke with Fred Danker today. He is reading page proof on
edition 3 as it is ready. His estimate is April, 1998. Tis a
consummation devoutly to be wished.
Finally, My wife and I are going to Sicily and Rome September 1-15 to
celebrate 45 years of marriage. So I will not be reading responses to
this, since I will go off the list until I come back.
ERRWSQE! Ed Krentz
---------------------------------
>This one really belongs to Carlton; but I couldn't resist a comment
myself
>(especially as I recently began re-reading Oedipus Tyrannus myself).
>
>The answer is that John handles Greek at a very elementary level, with
no
>sense of Greek style at all, not even of Mark's rough-but-clever
calibre.
>Luke, on the other hand, handles Greek with an astonishing ease.
While he
>is of course no Sophocles (NOBODY else is a Sophocles except
Sophocles!),
>he can write Greek that sounds like LXX (Luke 1-2), like popular
story-
>telling (the longer parables in Luke 15-16), or like an exciting
adventure
>novel with travelogue (like Acts 27-28). Luke-Acts is a pleasure to
read
>in Greek, while John (as Greek) is pretty boring and tedious to my
ears.
>Even Mark is pretty zippy when compared to John. (I'm not saying
Mark's
>Greek is "better" than John's, only that his style is more
interesting.)
>
>Now, the real answer will probably come from Carl, to whom I will
totally
>defer in this matter.
>
>Edward Hobbs
******************************************************
* Edgar Krentz, Prof. of New Testament *
* Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago *
* 1100 East 55th Street *
* CHICAGO IL 60615 *
* TEL.: 773-256-0752 FAX: 773-256-0782 *
* Office:
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