From: Dave Washburn (dwashbur@nyx.net)
Date: Fri Jun 22 2001 - 11:38:15 EDT
Harry,
> As I understand it, Sharp developed his rule by finding all the
> instances in which the construction <article> <Noun> kai <Noun> lead
> to the conclusion that <Noun> = <Noun>. And that seems to me to be
> like saying, since every construction in the NT, except one, of
> <Truely I say to you> has a comma after it then all such constructions
> must have a comma after them. In other words, it's a rule based more
> on statistics than the axioms of the NT Greek grammar.
Sharp had an ax to grind, there's no doubt about that. In particular,
he was responding to a person named Blunt whose views Sharp
labeled Socinian. However, that doesn't negate the potential
usefulness of his rules. In addition, since NT Greek is a dead
language, what other method do we have for determining what its
"axioms" are? Induction based on usage is one
of the few tools we have for figuring out the grammar of a dead
language, so if we eliminate it we're not left with much.
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"You just keep thinking, Butch. That's what you're good at."
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