From: Mr. Gary S. Dykes (yhwh3in1@lightspeed.net)
Date: Wed Dec 08 1999 - 01:08:38 EST
Bartholomew wrote in part:
The sad state of affairs in NT grammars is that we have no
linguistically up to date intermediate or advanced grammars. The ones we
do have will do us fine for teaching however. Most seminarians probably
could not digest a linguistically sophisticated intermediate or advanced
grammar.
Anyway, I am sure this will make some people mad I will probably go into
hiding for the next few days and not read any e-mail.
Cheers,
Clay
Dykes replies:
I agree we do need perhaps a single advanced comprehensive Koine Greek
grammar. And I agree with Multnomah's Wheeler, Dana and Mantey did not
produce a very accurate work. I recall Ralph Marcus's dialog with Mantey
and it was a sad scene to witness an incompetence of Mantey exposed.
Wallace's work fills a solid need. But he too is deficient, he is very weak
on particles, and has no discussion on the verbal adjectives in -TOS.
(At least I could not find it!). He gives only a very limited view of
certain forms, such as the particle EI which he sees only as indicating an
"if". And he totally avoids a diachronic perspective, which generates some
misunderstandings as concerns basic semantics. Still he does a very fine
job with what he has. It is a recommended work.
Another work/textbook using the inductive approach which Wheeler likes so
well, is W. LaSor's 2 volume work on ACTS. It is a beginner to intermediate
work, but great for self learning. For most students and accomplished
scholars in the field, I suggest possessing and using about 6 or 7
grammars. This would include specialized works such as Thrall and
Dennistons's, and Veitch. For those of us who read German, Radermacher's
work is still useful. Dallas Theological Seminary and D. Wheeler have put
out nice materials on basic Greek diagramming, which all exegetes should
master. F. Blass's work (before Funk ruined it) was/is a fine work, a bit
dated but solid.
Still I prefer A. T. Robertson's tome, IF I had to choose one grammar, and
I have over 60 on the shelf.
But my real concern here lies in the area of "modern linguistics". Others
are attempting to create "new" Greek grammars, some relying the new
universal theories (a la Chomsky). This is fine, but the rhetoric can be
very very misleading, the following terms are popular in the neo-linguistic
circles:
head, D-structure, determiner, register, pragmatics, P-marker,
morphosyntax, co-occurrence restriction, conjoining, Bounding Theory,
agenitive object, flip-flop rule, et cetera. Besides numerous and contorted
methods of diagramming.
Now some of these terms make sense, but I do not think the world is ready
to standardize all of these idioms and terms into a "standard" reference
Koine Greek grammar.
Also alarming is the current focus upon a synchronic analysis of language,
and the focus upon context-free linguistic analysis. A good grammar should
be balanced with both a diachronic and synchronic view. A good Biblically
oriented Greek grammar, would have no need to go into discourse analysis,
nor context free studies, as the contexts are exceedingly relevant.
Etymology is still very important, having access to the Mycenaean texts
--clear unto the modern Greek is often useful for understanding a word's
evolution in Greek. Dialectical studies need more attention as well.
And finally, as Tauber has noted, experience, YEARS of experience will add
an intuitiveness to one's study, the scholar becomes him/herself a
grammar!!
To get a good view of some newer transformational grammar attempts I
recommend the 1966 (old in some folk's minds) volume entitled:
WRITING TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMARS: an introduction. By A. Koutsoudas.
In it one can see the dangerous germs now being toyed with in cureent
linguistic circles. One result of some of the modern theories, if they
triumph and actually produce a comprehensive grammar of Koine Greek, will
be confusion. It does not take a prophet to see this.
But let the dialog continue, we need more specialized grammars, even one or
two using modern jargon.
en Xristw
Mr. Gary S. Dykes email -- yhwh3in1@lightspeed.net
Swanson's Errata List -- http://userzweb.lightspeed.net/yhwh3in1/
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