Mellas - Verbal Aspect in Epistolary Material

[Matthew Longhorn]

Just got a google alert for a new masters thesis being published on verbal aspect in the NT Greek by Jacob Mellas. He seems to side with Campbell a lot, but I haven't given it a read through.
Note. I am not posting this to kick of discussion on verbal aspect and the legitimacy or otherwise of a tenseless view of verbs, just thought people may be interested

https://search.proquest.com/openview/63 ... 750&diss=y

from his conclusion
"There are only two aspects: perfective and imperfective aspect. This chapter focuses upon
the imperfective aspect. The perfective aspect presents the verbal event/state from an external
viewpoint. It is not concerned with the internal workings of how an action occurs; rather, it
presents the occurrence as a complete whole. In contrast, the imperfective aspect is the internal
viewpoint depicting the verbal action/state from the inside. The imperfective aspect generally
does not focus upon the beginning or end of an action.276
The internal versus external viewpoint distinction is the key to understanding aspect.
However, each of the forms have additional semantic qualities that are the basis for their
distinctive pragmatic functions. Traditionally, what distinguished the imperfective forms from
one another was understood to be the temporal values encoded in the forms (tense). Instead,
Campbell has catalogued further spatial nuances for the forms to better explain the data. So while
the present and imperfect tense-forms are universally accepted as imperfective in aspect, what
distinguishes them in Campbell’s model is further spatial considerations. Following Campbell, it
is also argued that the perfect and pluperfect tense-forms encode imperfective aspect. Again,
what differentiates each of these forms is the spatial variations they bring to bear upon a verb.
The present and perfect encode a spatial quality of proximity (with varying degrees) while the
imperfect and pluperfect encode remoteness (with varying degrees). With imperfective aspect, “a
verbal event or state is viewed internally… [But] the focus of the view may be directed at
various points of the unfolding action or state.”277 The various points at which one views the
event/state equate to the various imperfective forms.

[Eeli Kaikkonen]

Regardless of the danger of being offtopic - this took my attention:

2020-05-26_15-49-15.png (4.29 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

[Matthew Longhorn]

Ouch!

[MAubrey]

I'm surprised I don't recognize him. He was just a year behind me at MBI and in the same program.

Not a single chapter from the Greek Verb Revisited made it into a thesis written defended in 2020? That's a little worrying in terms of how the author engages with the literature.

There's only one reference to Rijksbaron...citing Campbell. Yet, nothing Rijksbaron has written appears in the bibliography.

[Matthew Longhorn]

There's only one reference to Rijksbaron...citing Campbell. Yet, nothing Rijksbaron has written doesn't appear in the bibliography.

No reference to your thesis either .

[MAubrey]

There's only one reference to Rijksbaron...citing Campbell. Yet, nothing Rijksbaron has written doesn't appear in the bibliography.

No reference to your thesis either .

I'm fine with that.

I think my forthcoming chapter in Black & Merkle's book is a superior product for the biblical studies audience. And I plan on writing a full monograph covering the history of the perfect up to the 4th century by 2022.

[Matthew Longhorn]

And I plan on writing a full monograph covering the history of the perfect up to the 4th century by 2022.

For the benefit of us who need to learn self-restraint with book buying... please, please, please, do not publish through Brill!