Re: Imperfective Imperfects in Acts 8:17

From: Jonathan Robie (jonathan@texcel.no)
Date: Tue Jan 20 1998 - 14:19:37 EST


At 10:15 AM 1/20/98 +0000, clayton stirling bartholomew wrote:

>I have no serious problems with any of the above. What I have a problem with
>is making the subjectivity of the author's choice into an absolute. The
author
>can choose to depict the laying on of hands as a finished simple event
>(aorist) or the author can make an issue out of the process by using the
>imperfect. But the notion that the author's choice is divorced from the
>objective situation is mildly absurd. If Porter is not making subjectivity an
>absolute then I am not arguing with Porter. But some members of this list
seem
>to be making this subjectivity an absolute are they not?
 
I don't understand what you are saying. The word "subjective choice" does
not man that the objective reality is not being portrayed, but that the
objective reality may be portrayed in more than one way, with different
nuances, and the author may choose which nuances to convey.

I don't know what "making subjectivity an absolute" means, but if you are
describing a past event, you can often choose between imperfect and aorist
to describe the same objective reality. You do have to pick a tense, since
you can't use a verb without it, and the nuances of the verb change
depending on which tense you use.

Jonathan
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Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com

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