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Thursday, May 20, 2010

J.D. Punch's New Article on the PA

The announcement and link to this free online dissertation on the PA was originally posted on Evangelical Textual Criticism blog by Wasserman.

Its a 500 page article on the PA that goes into depth in considering the main options as to the origin and history of John 7:53-8:11 (the Pericope [de] Adultera[e] PA).

J.D. Punch's Thesis on PA <-- Click Here, or right-click to save to disk.

I am posting this short review of a part of it, to give people some idea of what is in it:

On CHAPTER 5: STYLE & VOCABULARY

First a general comment:

This section is anything but "(pseudo)scholarly": It is a really first-rate and deep discussion of many of the vocabulary questions. Something of a 'coup de grace'.

3.2 orthros(ou). An excellent and thorough 3 page discussion on this word, providing a wealth of material for future commentators. Full marks.

3.3 paraginomai. Great, informative talk, which will be of assistance to those at intermediate-level Greek, seeking more nuance.

3.4 laos/oxlos. An excellent and deep introduction to the usage of these words in the Gospels, NT, & LXX. Hats off. Very compelling.

3.5 kathizo. Subtle nuances of usage, again useful for those wishing to master Koine, and are wondering as to the weight of stylistic variation vs. meaning.

3.6 hoi grammateis kai hoi pharisaioi.

This is your best section to this point: a three-page masterpiece, filling out a very complex background on many levels of culture, context, religion and literary purpose. What a model.

I have left off commenting on 3.1, in part because I think some things were missed in this section. A future discussion can await that.

Generally, Sections 1-3 of this chapter are a tour-de-force, a scholarly and balanced response with excellent references and a good grasp of the issues, and more than adequate answer to the stylistic objections of the 19th century, beginning with Samuel Davidson.

Congrats on a great piece, which ought to be well-quoted and useful for students of both NT Greek and TC.

peace
Nazaroo

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