Verbal Aspect, the Indicative Mood, and Narrative: Soundings in the Greek of the New Testament

310 Pages·2007·6.761 MB·English

by  Constantine R. Campbell

Verbal Aspect,
the Indicative Mood,
and Narrative
Studies in Biblical Greek

D. A. Carson
General Editor

Vol. 13

PETER LANG
New York ! Washington, D.C./Baltimore ! Bern
Frankfurt am Main ! Berlin ! Brussels ! Vienna ! Oxford
Constantine R. Campbell

Verbal Aspect,
the Indicative Mood,
and Narrative

Soundings in the Greek
of the New Testament

PETER LANG
New York ! Washington, D.C./Baltimore ! Bern
Frankfurt am Main ! Berlin ! Brussels ! Vienna ! Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Campbell, Constantine R.
Verbal aspect, the indicative mood, and narrative:
soundings in the Greek of the New Testament / Constantine R. Campbell.
p. cm. (cid:151) (Studies in biblical Greek; v. 13)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Bible. N.T.(cid:151)Language, style. 2. Greek language, Biblical(cid:151)Grammar.
3. Bible. N.T.(cid:151)Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. II. Series.
BS2325.C36 225.4(cid:146)8(cid:151)dc22 2007011090
ISBN 978-1-4331-0023-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4331-0003-1 (paperback)
ISBN 978­1­4539­0586­9 (eBook)
ISSN 0897-7828 (Print edition)

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the (cid:147)Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie(cid:148); detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de/.

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T C
ABLE OF ONTENTS

List of Figures..................................................................................................xi
Series Editor Preface.....................................................................................xiii
Author’s Preface............................................................................................xv
List of Abbreviations....................................................................................xvii

Introduction..........................................................................1
1. The problem of verbal aspect................................................................1
2. Where are we?.......................................................................................2
3. Discourse analysis and Greek narrative................................................3
4. The search for an aspectual model of the Greek verbal system............5
5. Implications...........................................................................................5

Chapter One: Methodological Issues........................................7
1. Introduction..........................................................................................7
2. Terminology..........................................................................................8
3. Linguistic assumptions........................................................................16
4. Pragmatics and semantics...................................................................24
5. Determining aspect.............................................................................28
6. Limitation of sources...........................................................................30
7. Conclusion..........................................................................................33

Chapter Two: The Present Tense-form .................................. 35
1. Introduction........................................................................................35
2. Aspectual value....................................................................................35
3. Present usage and function..................................................................37
4. Remoteness and proximity..................................................................48
viii VERBAL ASPECT, THE INDICATIVE MOOD, AND NARRATIVE

5. The historical present..........................................................................57
6. Conclusion..........................................................................................76

Chapter Three: The Imperfect Tense-form............................. 77
1. Introduction........................................................................................77
2. Aspectual value....................................................................................77
3. Imperfect usage and function..............................................................79
4. Imperfectivity and remoteness ...........................................................84
5. Conclusion........................................................................................101

Chapter Four: The Aorist Tense-form...................................103
1. Introduction......................................................................................103
2. Perfective aspect................................................................................103
3. Aorist usage and function..................................................................108
4. Perfectivity and remoteness...............................................................115
5. Conclusion........................................................................................125

Chapter Five: The Future Tense-form...................................127
1. Introduction......................................................................................127
2. Future usage and function.................................................................127
3. Aspectual value..................................................................................134
4. Future temporal reference.................................................................151
5. Discourse analysis..............................................................................158
6. Conclusion........................................................................................159

Chapter Six: The Perfect Tense-form....................................161
1. Introduction......................................................................................161
2. Traditional approaches.....................................................................162
3. Stative aspect.....................................................................................166
4. Perfect usage and function................................................................175
5. Aspectual value..................................................................................184
6. Heightened proximity.......................................................................195
7. Conclusion........................................................................................210

Chapter Seven: The Pluperfect Tense-form ...........................213
1. Introduction......................................................................................213
2. Pluperfect usage and function...........................................................213
3. Aspectual value..................................................................................224
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

4. Heightened remoteness.....................................................................229
5. Planes of discourse.............................................................................233
6. Conclusion........................................................................................237

Conclusions and Implications..............................................239
1. Introduction......................................................................................239
2. Discourse analysis and recursive methodology.................................239
3. Discourse analysis and Greek narrative............................................241
4. An aspectual model of the Greek verbal system................................241
5. Narrative structure and the indicative mood....................................244
6. Exegetical implications......................................................................247
7. Conclusion........................................................................................247

Bibliography................................................................................................249
Author Index...............................................................................................269
Reference Index...........................................................................................275
Subject Index...............................................................................................281