[b-greek] Smart's rule: A manual recount.

From: Dan Parker (stoixein@sdf.lonestar.org)
Date: Tue Nov 21 2000 - 17:59:02 EST


Charles said:
: Smart's rule is so broad as to be useless because you have too many
: things involved that would naturally distinguish things. Even given
: this, one has to wonder how large this database is. I could only come
: up with 20 or so NT examples that fit the criteria (i.e., subatantive +
: possessive pronoun + KAI + substantive + possessive pronoun). This is
: too small a database to define a rule.
:
: There are over 80 NT texts that fit Sharp's rule.
:
: Charles E. Powell, Ph.D.


Charles,
It appears that I have been stating a mere subset of Smart's rule, those
where the possessive pronoun is repeated for perspicuity. The rule as
stated below has at least 42 examples in the GNT and no exceptions.

        "In native [not translation] KOINE Greek when the copulative
        KAI connects two substantives of personal description in regimen
        [i.e. both or neither have articles] and the first substantive
        alone is modified by the personal pronoun in the genitive or
        repeated for perspicuity [Winer 147-148;155] two persons or
        groups of persons are in view."

As far as Sharp's "rule" is concerned, I see that it shows some sort of
unity in all cases, however it is not clear to me how the rule proves
personal identity. The rule as stated by modern Sharp's revisionists
appears to exclude some substantives that Sharp himself did not
explicitly exclude, for example the hON APESTEILAS at John 17:3.
Videlicet (viz.) is used to provide more detail about a preceding
general statement. Does this necessarily mean that the examples that
follow exhaust all usages of the general term substantive to Sharp?


In addition, Since it is not likely that a participle could be modified
by a possessive pronoun (in the same way that a relative pronoun cannot
have an article), when one compares the number of Sharp's "rule" and
Smart's constructions with respect to those categories where they both
apply, Smart's constructions are more numerous that Sharp's "rule" as
a whole, and particularly with respect to nouns, which account for all
the Christologically significant verses. This gives Smarts better odds
than Sharps both in terms of construction and and "rule," because Sharp's
rule only includes 33 nouns and 4 adjectives while Smarts includes 41
nouns and 1 adjective, without the need to arbitrarily exclude any type
of substantive. It seems that Smarts is superior to Sharps after all!


Sincerely,
Dan Parker



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