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The Literary Character of New Testament Greek

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Nigel Turner
Nigel Turner
Affiliation:
Salisbury, Rhodesia.
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Extract

One reason why the New Testament language was once thought to constitute a backwater from the main stream of Greek literature, and was allotted a place of its own, was that it apparently differed so much from the literature of its period and created no formal precedents in style for later Christian or secular literature. The matter is well discussed by N. W. Lund, who refers to Franz Overbeck's opinion and the subsequent views of E. Norden as far as the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles are concerned. Opinion during the present century no longer sees the NT language as a backwater but stresses its affinities with the vernacular. However, one may feel concerned that the literary elements in this language should not be overlooked. With a message appealing to all humanity, the NT not surprisingly is sometimes colloquial and even uses slang in one or two words, so that it is little wonder if there is a tendency at the present time to assume that its language is much closer to the non-literary Koine than to the cultured Greek of the period.

Type
Articles
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , January 1974 , pp. 107 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

page 107 note 1 Chiasmus in the New Testament (N. Carolina, 1942), pp. 9 ff.Google Scholar

page 107 note 2 ‘Über die Anfänge der patristischen Literatur’, Hist. Zeitschr. N.F. XII (1882), 417 ff.Google Scholar, quoted by Norden, E., Die antike Kunstprosa, II (Berlin, 1918), 479 f.Google Scholar

page 107 note 3 Op. cit. pp. 479–510.

page 107 note 4 E.g. by Colwell, E. C., in Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, II, 483.Google Scholar

page 107 note 5 Grammar of New Testament Greek, II (Edinburgh, 1919), 10.Google Scholar

page 107 note 6 See the critical editions published by the Berlin Academy, Die griechische christliche Schriftsteller der ersten drei Fahrhunderte. Migne' Patrologia Graeca ought to be avoided for the purposes of language study, not having a sufficiently critical text.

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page 110 note 7 Aesopus, Aristeas, Vettius Valens, Sextus Empiricus. LXX: Num. x. 32; Judg. xvii. 13a; Tob. xii. 13b; Wisd. i. 12; I Macc. xi. 33; II Macc. i. 2.

page 111 note 1 Danker, F. W., ‘Menander and the New Testament,’ N. T. S. x (1964), 365–8Google Scholar. See the reference to Papyrus Bodmer IV: Ménandre, Le Dyscolos (1958), ed. V. Martin.Google Scholar

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page 112 note 2 Others, generally recognized as Atticists, are: Aratus (c. 270 B. C.), Callimachus (c. 240 B. C.), Aristides of Milo (second-century B. C. historian), Dionysius of Halicarnassus (first-century B. C. grammarian), Dio Chrysostom and Herodes Atticus (NT or sub-apostolic period), Aelian and Alciphron (c. A. D. 200), Appian and the pupil of Epictetus, Arrian (second century A. D. lexicographer), and Herodian (third century A. D.). Moreover, Josephus and Plutarch (first-second century A. D.) have a tendency this way; while the closest approach in the LXX is IV Macc.

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page 113 note 2 Ed. Gaisford, T. (Oxford, 1848).Google Scholar

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page 113 note 5 Ed. Bekker, I. (Berlin, 1814–1821).Google Scholar

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page 114 note 2 Ed. Schmidt, M. (Jena, 1858–1868).Google Scholar

page 114 note 3 Ed. Bernhardy (Halle, 1853).