Transitivity-Based Foregrounding in the Acts of the Apostles: A Functional-Grammatical Approach to the Lukan Perspective

201 Pages·2000·10.44 MB·English

by  Gustavo Martin-Asensio

l i b r a r y o f n e w t e s t a m e n t s t u d i e s
TRANSITIVITY-BASED
FOREGROUNDING
IN THE ACTS OF THE
APOSTLES
A Functional-Grammatical Approach to
the Lukan Perspective
GUSTAVO MARTÍN-ASENSIO
JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
202
Executive Editor
Stanley E. Porter
Editorial Board
Elizabeth A. Castelli, David Catchpole, Kathleen E. Corley,
R. Alan Culpepper, James D.G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans,
Stephen Fowl, Robert Fowler, George H. Guthrie,
Robert Jewett, Robert W. Wall
STUDIES IN NEW TESTAMENT GREEK
8
Sheffield Academic Press

Transitivity-Based
Foregrounding in the
Acts of the Apostles
A Functional-Grammatical
Approach to the Lukan Perspective
Gustavo Martin-Asensio
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Supplement Series 202
Studies in New Testament Greek 8
Para mis padres
Copyright © 2000 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19 Kingfield Road
Sheffield SI 1 9AS
England
http://www.SheffieldAcademicPress.com
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
EISBN 9781841271644
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Abbreviations 8
Introduction 9
Chapter 1
HALLIDAYAN FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR AS HEIR TO
NEW TESTAMENT RHETORICAL CRITICISM:
THE CASE OF FOREGROUNDING 21
Chapter 2
THE RELEVANCE OF FOREGROUNDING FOR INTERPRETATION
AND TRANSLATION: THE EPISODE OF PAUL'S SHIPWRECK
(ACTS 27) AS A CASE STUDY 50
Chapter 3
PARTICIPANT REFERENCE AND FOREGROUNDED
TRANSITIVITY PATTERNS IN THE STEPHEN EPISODE
(ACTS 6-7) 87
Chapter 4
LUKE'S SECOND SURVEY OF ISRAEL'S HISTORY
(ACTS 13.16B-25): REDACTION AND REGISTER
VARIATION 112
Chapter 5
FOREGROUNDING SCHEME AND RHETORICAL STRATEGY
IN THE EPISODE OF PAUL'S ARREST AND DEFENSE
(ACTS 21-22) 128
6 Transitivity-Based Foregrounding in the Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 6
FOREGROUNDED TRANSITIVITY PATTERNS IN THE
PENTECOST EPISODE (ACTS 2) 149
Conclusion 173
Bibliography 178
Index of References 190
Index of Modern Authors 195
PREFACE
In the early summer of 1995, Professor S.E. Porter began corresponding
with me concerning the initial work into the doctoral thesis which has
evolved into the present volume. His first words to me were 'Focus on
your chosen linguistic method. Master that now, and you will save
much precious time later.' During that summer in Vancouver, I read
nothing but Halliday, and very soon began to share Porter's appre-
ciation of Halliday's functional grammar, and its applicability to the
Greek narrative of Acts soon became apparent. I wish, therefore, to
express my gratitude to Professor Porter for his continued expert guid-
ance and generous encouragement throughout the entire project. I also
wish to thank two individuals without whose input into my life this
work would never have been possible: Dr Ron Smith of University of
the Nations, Hawaii, who first taught me to love the Greek New Testa-
ment. His commission and close supervision of my translation of the
entire Greek New Testament, my last project as an undergraduate, was
an example of his gift as an insightful motivator, always 'forcing' his
students to reach just beyond what they think they are capable of. Last,
but certainly not least, I give special thanks to Doug Kracht, my friend
and teacher over critical years in Madrid. The love and encouragement I
received from his family made that time a highly productive period of
my life, excellent preparation for what was to come. As far as the
present volume is concerned, my research cluster colleagues at Univer-
sity of Surrey Roehampton provided much needed sharpening and cor-
rection on a regular basis. Any remaining errors, however, are wholly
my own.
ABBREVIATIONS
A1CS The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting
AnBib Analecta biblica
BDF Friedrich Blass, A. Debrunner and Robert W. Funk, A Greek
Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961)
Bib Biblica
BSOS Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies
BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin
EstBib Estudios biblicos
EvQ Evangelical Quarterly
FN Filologia neotestamentaria
HTS Harvard Theological Studies
ICC International Critical Commentary
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Supplement
Series
Neot Neotestamentica
NovT Novum Testamentum
NovTSup Novum Testamentum, Supplements
NTS New Testament Studies
NTTS New Testament Tools and Studies
SBG Studies in Biblical Greek
SBLDS SBL Dissertation Series
SBLMS SBL Monograph Series
SBLSBS SBL Sources for Biblical Study
SBT Studies in Biblical Theology
SJLA Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity
SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series
ST Studia theologica
TynBul Tyndale Bulletin
WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament
ZNW Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft
INTRODUCTION
In his 1994 award-winning doctoral thesis at Harvard University,
Daniel J. Goldhagen exploded upon the conscience of late twentieth-
century Germany with what at first appeared to be yet another assess-
ment of the horrors of the Holocaust.1 it does not take long for most
readers to realize, however, that there is a fundamental feature in Gold-
hagen's work which sets it apart from all previous discussions of the
subject. Hitler's Willing Executioners is an attempt at much more than
filling a specific lacuna within contemporary historical reseach: it repre-
sents a conscientious and thorough recasting of the familiar narratives
of the Holocaust into a new, linguistically sharpened account of agents,
their deeds and their victims:
The first task in restoring the perpetrators to the center of our under-
standing of the Holocaust is to restore to them their identities, gram-
matically by using not the passive but the active voice, in order to ensure
that they, the actors, are not absent from their own deeds... Any explana-
tion that ignores either the particular nature of the perpetrators' actions
or the identity of the victims is inadequate for a host of reasons... The
proper description of the events under discussion, the re-creation of the
phenomenological reality of the killers, is crucial for any explication.
The result is not merely a gripping historical monograph, but, at least
as importantly, a fascinating test case in narratology. Goldhagen is to be
credited with—among other achievements—having demonstrated the
intimate connexion that exists between specific language patterns
(expressly, choices from the transitivity network of English, see below
1. Goldhagen's thesis was awarded the American Political Science Associa-
tion's 1994 Gabriel A. Almond Award for best dissertation in the field of com-
parative politics. A somewhat abridged version of this dissertation (minus 100+
pages of 'methodology') has now become an international best-seller under the title
of Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust (London:
Abacus, 1996).
2. Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners, pp. 6, 22.