From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sat Dec 18 1999 - 06:56:51 EST
Bill, I'm assuming that you meant this to be on-list, although you sent it
to me and not to the list.
At 7:25 PM -0600 12/17/99, Bill Ross wrote:
><Carl>
>
>... 4:4 is a new sentence; one indicator of this is that there isn't any
>particle associated with it that would indicate a link to what precedes it.
>
><Bill>
>I'm not familiar with the term "particle." What would be an example of a
>"particle" that, associated with 4:4 would indicate a link to what prcedes
>it? Do you mean DE or ALLA or KAI?
Yes--but there are VERY MANY other particles; since in Greek the chief unit
of discourse is a string of clauses that are rather tightly interconnected,
the particles serve to mark off clauses from each other within the string
and to clarify the relationship of one clause to those preceding it. When a
clause begins without a particle near the beginning of the clause, that's
normally an indication that a new significant unit of discourse is
beginning.
><Carl>
>But there's no way that CAIRETE EN KURIWi PANTOTE PALIN ERW CAIRETE can be
>construed as a continuation in the Greek of what precedes it in hWN TA
>ONOMATA EN BIBLWI ZWHS.
>
><Bill>
>Did you mean to say "But" or "So"?
Well, I meant to return to your question and reiterate my point that
CAIRETE initiates a new unit of discourse; I suppose a "So" would have
served as well or maybe better.
>Could there not be an implied "Ye" as in "[Ye] whose names...rejoice!" ??
Sure; it's always implicit, but even in English we don't normally make
explicit the subject of an imperative. If I'm telling a child to be still,
I say "Be still!" and don't specify "you" UNLESS it's unclear which of two
or more children I'm talking to. And that's characteristic of imperatives
in Greek as well.
><Carl>
>It occurs to me also to clarify further something that both Carlton and I
>were saying about sentences beginning with relative clauses; I would say
>that a sentence CAN begin with a relative clause, IF AND ONLY IF the
>antecedent is in a clause that follows: e.g. hOSOI AN THS FWNHS MOU AKOUWSIN
>EKEINOI POIMNIA EMA EISIN--where hOSOI must be construed with EKEINOI.
>
><Bill>
>I follow your example. I guess I was thinking an implied "ye" might have
>been the antecedent: [CAIRETE [implied hUMEIS]]. So with the implied
>"ye/hUMEIS" it would read in English:
>
>"[Ye] who's names are written in Life's Book, rejoice [ye] in the Lord
>always!"
>
>or just
>
>"Who's names are written in Life's Book, rejoice [ye] in the Lord always!"
>
>or
>
>"[Ye] who's names are written in Life's Book, rejoice in the Lord always!"
Well, it's conceivable, but it seems highly improbable to me. The text
again (I have to have the text in front of my eyes to talk about it):
>>NAI ERWTW KAI SE GNHSIE SUZUGE SULLAMBANOU AUTAIS AITINES EN TW EUAGGELIW
>>SUNHQLHSAN MOI META KAI KLHMENTOS KAI TWN LOIPWN SUNERGWN MOU hWN TA
>>ONOMATA EN BIBLW ZWHS
>>4:4
>>CAIRETE EN KURIW PANTOTE PALIN ERW CAIRETE
The reason it seems improbable to me is that the clause preceding it
identifies the women as part of a group sharing Paul's "struggle" (referred
to in SUNHQLHSAN) along with "Clement and all my other co-workers", and for
that reason it seems to me that the genitive relative pronoun hWN
introducing the clause, "whose names are in the book of life", most
naturally refers to all those co-workers immediately mentioned. It seems
far less likely--not impossible, but far less likely--that the antecedent
of the hWN clause is the IMPLICIT subject of the imperative in the clause
which follows the relative clause.
>Since Paul was in too much of a hurry to write ESTIN, maybe he left the
>hUMEIS implied as well?
But it's NOT that Paul was in "too much of a hurry to write ESTIN" any more
than he was in "too much of a hurry" to write hUMEIS; these words are
commonly and naturally left implicit rather than made explicit in Greek
writing.
I think perhaps you would do well to remember how different a letter is
from good expository writing. In a formal paper one wants to make
everything as clear as possible and leave as little as possible in doubt:
don't use a lot of pronouns like "they" or "he" or "she" when it's not
clear which of several persons referred to previously is meant; don't use
"which" or "whose" when your antecedent is not close enough for the
reader/listener to grasp precisely which person(s) is/are referred to.
Letters are much more informal, and this is precisely why Paul's letters,
which make up so large a part of the NT, are often especially difficult
when they are commenting on shared experiences of himself and the
congregation to which he was writing: precisely because of their shared
experience, he can assume they'll know immediately what he means if he
refers to something in a short-hand fashion. I think then that it is in the
salutation and in the final personal greetings sections of Paul's letters,
we really have to read between the lines and make inferences about what is
meant. Surely there are some instances where we really don't know enough
about the persons or situations to identify them with confidence; in those
cases we try to make intelligent guesses, and that's what we're doing here
in the opening of Philippians 4. I really don't think that 4:4 relates back
at all to 4:3 and I've explained WHY I don't think it does, but obviously I
can't say there's no remote possibiity of interpreting the sequence as
you've suggested. I just don't think there's sufficient reason to interpret
it that way.
--Carl W. Conrad Department of Classics/Washington University One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018 Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649 cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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