Today is an atypical day for me. I left my house at 6:00am to try and beat the LA traffic because I had to go to the library at Talbot Seminary (=Biola University) to read two books for one of my PhD courses that the TMS library didn’t have.
After arriving here in great time, I was able to sit outside and read 1 Corinthians 12 in preparation for my sermon next Tuesday. Then when the library opened at 7:30, I got my visitor’s pass and darted upstairs to get my books before anyone else got them! I did get them (phew) and have been station in this little cubby for about five hours now.
I’m fascinated by looking at all of the students walking past the library on their way to class. I’ve seen some young people, some old people, some with their Bibles, most without their Bibles. I’ve seen guys in shorts, girls in athletic shorts. Most have been wearing flip flops (!!). Nearly 50% of those passing by have either been on the cell phone or texting. Not only that, here in the library, almost half of the student’s computers that I’ve passed are macs (I’m still not giving in!).
Regarding the two books I’ve read, the first was a book edited by DA Carson and Stan Porter on Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics. It’s one of the monographs that has a bunch of articles all discussing a minute—yet so important—aspect of biblical Greek, namely, verbal aspect. Does time play a factor in the Greek verb at all? Porter confidently says no. Fanning (an author of an article in the monograph) says mostly no though it can have some time aspect involved.
The other book I read was the marvelous dissertation by my professor and advisor, Rod Decker (Temporal Deixis of the Greek Verb in the Gospel of Mark with Reference to Verbal Aspect). That’s a long and complex title that simply refers to the study of the Gospel of Mark with reference to the Greek Verb. He asserts that the verb has no time factor inherent in it yet time is determined by context and other markers (deixis).
There you have it! That’s what I’ve been reading today. I must get back to my studies and then try to beat the traffic back home (so I’m not on the freeway for 2.5 hours!). Anyway, I figured this would be a good break for me to reflect on what I’ve seen while studying at a new place (which is nice every once in awhile).
