Granville Sharp's Canon and Its Kin

Book excerpt: Granville Sharp s Canon and Its Kin explains that the semantics of the article-substantive-KAI-substantive construction (TSKS) have been largely misunderstood and that this misunderstanding has adversely impacted the exegesis of several theologically significant texts. This issue is addressed from three angles: historical investigation, linguistic-phenomenological analysis of the construction, and exegetical implications. The reasons for the misunderstanding are traced historically; a better comprehension of the semantics of the construction is established by an examination of primary literature in the light of linguistic theory; and the implications of this analysis are applied to a number of passages in the New Testament. Historically, the treatment begins with a clear grammatical principle articulated by Granville Sharp, and it ends with the present-day confusion. This book includes a detailed examination of the New Testament data and other Ancient Greek literature, which reveals that Sharp s rule has a general validity in the language. Lastly, a number of exegetically significant texts that are affected by the linguistic-phenomenological investigation are discussed in detail. This enlightening text is a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students of religion, linguistics, history, and Greek."