From: George Blaisdell (maqhth@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Sep 27 2001 - 14:47:52 EDT
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George Blaisdell
Roslyn, WA
"Be not troubling of you the heart..."
>From: "Iver Larsen"
>George said:
> > But the core of the sentence is its center - It is the horse that > >
>carries over into the next sentence. It carries the focus of the > >
>whole of the sentence.
> > This, at any rate, is what I look for in reading a Greek text...
> > There always seems to be a turning point in word order, around
> > which the words and meanings revolve and bring into focus.
> > He said Greek sentences ... start
> > out, reach a turning point, and wrap up the action.
>If he really said that, I would have to disagree.
You are not alone, Iver. Most Greek translators I have encountered do not
see a Greek text in this way at all, or at most acknowledge it only as one
possible out of many equally possible Greek constructions. Few see it as a
pattern of Greek thought expressed generally in the language.
>A phrase consists of words... where the significance of word order comes
>into play, since the constituents of a phrase are words.
>A clause consists of phrases... [word order applies somewhat...]
>A sentence consists of clauses... Word order does not apply at sentence
>level.
>A paragraph consists of sentences. At this level we are far above where it
>is relevant to talk about word order.
>A discourse consists of paragraphs.
>Then there is the rhetorical (mainly Semitic) feature of chiasm...
>Thirdly, there is the question of the climax of a story.
I am not arguing against complexity, and especially not against the
wonderfully various possibilities of expression that will be found in Greek,
but am more focused on the general construction of Greek expression, which
will be found reflected in chiasm, discourse, rhetoric, paragraphs,
sentences, clauses, phrases, - Not constraining these to it, as in
subjecting it to the rulership of the laws of language and thought - Yikes!!
- But as helpful in affording a focus for approaching a text because of its
commonness and general simplicity...
The Lord's prayer, for instance, pivots around KAI, and by extension it
pivots around the phrase joined by KAI [as in heaven KAI upon the earth].
The two sections of three petitions [so joined] form the prayer. It is the
central petitions that carry the core of the focus of each of the
groupings, and indeed the coming of the kingdom of God centers around the
forgiveness of sins which in turn centers around our forgiving trespasses,
which is where the next sentence following the prayer goes on to explain.
And the central petition, the core request, the essence of what we are
asking of the Father in this prayer, is for the 'upon earth' to be 'as in
heaven'... For the healing of our fallen state... This, at least, is how
this approach would begin to understand the Lord's Prayer...
Other examples abound.
Yet at each, say, phrase level, it is the centers of the phrases, the
central word[s], that carry the thought foreward into the next phrase. And
the overall pattern can be commonly found at most levels of expression. It
is not rocket science, but simply a common pattern of thought and expression
found in Greek writings of this era, reflecting, perhaps, an oral culture of
mnemonic expressiveness that works around and upon this simple framework...
geo
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