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b-greek-digest V1 #79
b-greek-digest Tuesday, 16 January 1996 Volume 01 : Number 079
In this issue:
book
Re: hINATI' in Didache 5
KAQIHMI in Rom. 1:28
Re: hINATI' in Didache 5
Re: KAQIHMI in Rom. 1:28
Course on Computers and Bible
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: GLLang@aol.com
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 08:31:22 -0500
Subject: book
I am needing some information (and opinions) on a Greek grammar. What are
the strengths and weaknesses of Zuntz's Greek grammar? How would it compare
with Blass and DeBrunner? How would it differ? Appreciate any help!
Mark Langley
Leighton, AL
------------------------------
From: Kenneth Litwak <kenneth@sybase.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 09:03:54 +0800
Subject: Re: hINATI' in Didache 5
> >I suspect that the Didache is a Christianization of the Damascus Documents
> >found in Cairo and amonst the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those interested may wish to
> >look into this. Perhaps it will offer some insight to language usage within
> >it.
>
Well, I don't know about the Dasmascus Document-Didache connection,
ubt I do think the Greek of the Didache is interesting. In working
throught he first five chapters, I've noticed a huge number of words
which either do not occur in the NT or do not occur in secular Greek or
both. There are somepalces where the only other known occurence is in
the Apostolic Constitutions, quoting the Didache! Furthermore, while
I generlaly think the Didache in this portion at least says lots of
right-on stuff (except for the bit about bringing a gift for the ransom
of your sins), for the most part it does not seem in these chapters to
be distinctly Christian particularly. It talks about virtues and vices,
but does not root them, as Paul or Peter or James do in their writings,
with who believers are in Christ very much. Paul seems unable to write
very many lines without mentioning Christ or Christ Jesus, etc. The
Didache shows no such tendency. ALso, I've noticed what seems to me to
be a trend of omitting the definite article with a clearly substantive
participle. I don't think, though I don't have statistics for it, that
this is a common NT Greek practice. So it seems to me that even though
the Didache in this section at least quotes the Sermon on the MOunt
(wihtout saying so), overall it does not seem that the author was
interested in imitating NT style, vocabulary or syntax.
Then again, I found the small amount of translation I've done this
last weekend in the Martyrdom of Polycarp to not seem much like NT Greek
either. In fact, MP is some of the hardest Greek I've ever worked on,
Hebrews included.
Ken Litwak
GTU
Bezerkley, CA
------------------------------
From: Jim Beale <jbeale@gdeb.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 96 14:49:33 EST
Subject: KAQIHMI in Rom. 1:28
In Romans 1:28, the word KAQHKONTA appears, and is usually translated
"not seemly," or "not proper," or some equivalent. Yet, it seems, for
the most part, in the NT and classical greek, KAQIHMI means more like
"to let down."
Luke 5:19 ...... KAQHKAN (aorist) ................... "let down"
Acts 9:25 ...... KAQHKAN (aorist) ................... "let down"
Acts 10:11 ..... KAQIEMENON (present participle) .... "let down"
Acts 11:5 ...... KAQIEMENHN (present participle) .... "let down"
Acts 22:22 ..... KAQHKEN (imperfect) ................ "proper"
Rom 1:28 ....... KAQHKONTA (present participle) ..... "proper"
In LSJ there is no mention of anything remotely related to 'proper'
so I'm wondering about the history of the word, and how it came to bear
this seemingly unrelated meaning. Can anyone shed any light on this?
Jim
------------------------------
From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu>
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 16:03:06 -0600
Subject: Re: hINATI' in Didache 5
At 7:03 PM 1/14/96, Kenneth Litwak wrote:
>> >I suspect that the Didache is a Christianization of the Damascus Documents
>> >found in Cairo and amonst the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those interested may wish to
>> >look into this. Perhaps it will offer some insight to language usage within
>> >it.
>>
>
> Well, I don't know about the Dasmascus Document-Didache connection,
>ubt I do think the Greek of the Didache is interesting. In working
>throught he first five chapters, I've noticed a huge number of words
>which either do not occur in the NT or do not occur in secular Greek or
>both. There are somepalces where the only other known occurence is in
>the Apostolic Constitutions, quoting the Didache! Furthermore, while
>I generlaly think the Didache in this portion at least says lots of
>right-on stuff (except for the bit about bringing a gift for the ransom
>of your sins), for the most part it does not seem in these chapters to
>be distinctly Christian particularly. It talks about virtues and vices,
>but does not root them, as Paul or Peter or James do in their writings,
>with who believers are in Christ very much. Paul seems unable to write
>very many lines without mentioning Christ or Christ Jesus, etc. The
>Didache shows no such tendency. ALso, I've noticed what seems to me to
>be a trend of omitting the definite article with a clearly substantive
>participle. I don't think, though I don't have statistics for it, that
>this is a common NT Greek practice. So it seems to me that even though
>the Didache in this section at least quotes the Sermon on the MOunt
>(wihtout saying so), overall it does not seem that the author was
>interested in imitating NT style, vocabulary or syntax.
>
> Then again, I found the small amount of translation I've done this
>last weekend in the Martyrdom of Polycarp to not seem much like NT Greek
>either. In fact, MP is some of the hardest Greek I've ever worked on,
>Hebrews included.
I think, Ken, that what you're experiencing in reading patristic Greek is
not the exception but the rule: ALL of it is harder than most of the Greek
you read in the NT. There are several reasons for this; I'll only name a
couple: (1) Once the Christian faith definitively leaves the Hellenistic
Jewish linguistic sphere affected by LXX (Semitizing) Greek constructions
and enters the mainstream of Greco-Roman Koine, the more it will be
expressed in the literary and administrative language normal to
Greek-speaking Gentiles of the Roman empire; (2) by no means unrelated to
the foregoing, the style of the Greek is going to reflect a somewhat
standardized Greek educational curriculum emphasizing the literary classics
and rhetoric; this is all the more true in the second century of our era,
when the schools are increasingly subject to a movement to write Greek not
in the spoken vernacular Koine but in the archaizing Attic of the 5th and
4th centuries B.C.E.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
------------------------------
From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu>
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 16:02:38 -0600
Subject: Re: KAQIHMI in Rom. 1:28
At 1:49 PM 1/15/96, Jim Beale wrote:
>In Romans 1:28, the word KAQHKONTA appears, and is usually translated
>"not seemly," or "not proper," or some equivalent. Yet, it seems, for
>the most part, in the NT and classical greek, KAQIHMI means more like
>"to let down."
>
>Luke 5:19 ...... KAQHKAN (aorist) ................... "let down"
>Acts 9:25 ...... KAQHKAN (aorist) ................... "let down"
>Acts 10:11 ..... KAQIEMENON (present participle) .... "let down"
>Acts 11:5 ...... KAQIEMENHN (present participle) .... "let down"
>Acts 22:22 ..... KAQHKEN (imperfect) ................ "proper"
>Rom 1:28 ....... KAQHKONTA (present participle) ..... "proper"
>
>In LSJ there is no mention of anything remotely related to 'proper'
>so I'm wondering about the history of the word, and how it came to bear
>this seemingly unrelated meaning. Can anyone shed any light on this?
First of all, this doesn't come from KAQIHMI but rather from KAQHKW, a
compound of hHKW, a perfective present tense meaning "I have come" (much
the same sense, in fact, as Hellenistic PAREIMI).
The form in question is TA MH KAQHKONTA -- PAREDWKEN AUTOUS hO QEOS EIS
ADOKIMON NOUN, POIEIN TA MH KAQHKONTA.
What should be noted here is that it is a neuter participle in the plural.
This is not really related to other standard usages of KAQIHMI, I believe,
but rather to the Stoic sense of TO KAQHKON as the equivalent of TO PREPON,
"what is fitting," "what is seemly." TO KAQHKON is the Stoic term (or one
of them for "duty"--what one OUGHT to do, and I recall seeing somewhere,
long ago (so long that I can't remember whose explanation this was), that
TO KAQHKON is that part of the work of the universal LOGOS which "comes
down" to each individual as his/her obligation to execute. Accordingly, TA
MH KAQHKONTA will be "those things which one ought to avoid doing" (just as
OU DEI doesn't mean "it isn't necessary to do ..." but rather "it behooves
one NOT to do ...", so here these are the things it behooves one NOT to
do).
You might note the parallel masculine nominative form of this participle of
the same verb: hOI KAQHKONTES = one's kinsmen, (Latin SUI, PROPRII "one's
own people").
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
------------------------------
From: Harry Hahne <hahne@epas.utoronto.ca>
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 22:35:13 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Course on Computers and Bible
ANNOUNCING A NON-CREDIT COURSE:
USING A COMPUTER IN BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
Ontario Theological Seminary, Toronto
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
A practical survey of computing tools that assist research and writing in
biblical and theological studies. Students will learn about computer software
and techniques for studying the Bible, doing research, organizing information,
formatting bibliographies and writing papers and sermons. The course will
include an introduction to using biblical and theological resources on CD-ROM,
the Internet and the World Wide Web.
COURSE TOPICS:
1. Understanding how a computer can help you in school and ministry: An
introduction to computers and computer-assisted research.
2. Studying the Bible: Bible-search and text-analysis software.
Techniques for accurate computer-assisted Bible study and avoiding
common methodological errors.
3. Doing research in the information age: CD-ROM and online information
sources, including the Internet and the World Wide Web. Electronic
editions of Bible atlases, lexicons, concordances and commentaries.
4. Managing your information: Database management, bibliography formatting
and note-taking software.
5. Writing the perfect paper: Multilingual word processing with Greek and
Hebrew. Organizing your ideas. More effective writing with a
computer.
REGISTRATION DETAILS:
Location: Ontario Theological Seminary (Room 106), 25 Ballyconnor Court,
Willowdale, Ontario M2M 4B3 Canada (near Bayview and Steeles in
Toronto)
Time: Tuesdays 2:00-3:30, Feb. 14-Mar. 27, 1996 (except Mar. 12)
Cost: $45.00 preregistration or $50.00 at the first class
Instructor: Harry Hahne, lecturer in New Testament and Greek, Ontario
Theological Seminary
For further course information and registration instructions, go to
http://www.chorus.cycor.ca/Hahne/course.html on the World Wide Web or contact
the instructor at hahne@epas.utoronto.ca.
------------------------------
End of b-greek-digest V1 #79
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