Re: historical present (Luke/Acts/Paul)

Stephen C. Carlson (scarlson@mindspring.com)
Fri, 05 Jun 1998 22:52:24

At 08:44 6/5/98 -0700, Dale M. Wheeler wrote:
>9 and 13 would actually seem low to me in the Gospel narratives,
>but Luke has his own style, and I'm not that familiar with it
>that I could say yea or nay off the top of my head. Mark (which
>I read through yearly with my 1st year Grk class) has dozens of
>historical presents. So you're right that one would have to
>read through the material to see just how many there are.

Here are the figures from Rev. Sir John C. Hawkins, HORE SYNOPTICAE:
Contributions to the Study of the Synoptic Problem (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1899) (2d. ed., 1909) pp.143-9.

Mark: 151 Historic Presents in narrative (21 with Mt, 1 with Lk8:49),
0 Historic Presents in parables.

Matt: 78 Historic Presents in narrative (21 with Mk)
15 Historic Presents in parables.

Luke: 4 Historic Presents in narrative (7:40 8:49 11:37 11:45 [[24:12 36]])
5 Historic Presents in parables (13:8 16:7 23 29 19:22)
13 Historic Presents in Acts (8:36 10:11 27 31 12:8 19:35 21:37
22:2 23:18 25:5 22 24 26:24)

Hope this helps.

Stephen Carlson

--
Stephen C. Carlson                   : Poetry speaks of aspirations,
scarlson@mindspring.com              : and songs chant the words.
http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/ :               -- Shujing 2.35