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Manuscript Type
Article
Abstract (For book reviews see instructions below)
The Greek “historical present” (HP) tense phenomenon is often presented in textbooks and grammars as a literary feature that authors use in historical narrative texts to bring a sense of vividness to the reader. As if the historical distance of the “pastness” of the narrated event is overcome and the reader is brought—like in a time machine—into the presence of the event narrated. Even though this concept of the so-called Greek HP has been contested, if not rejected by some Greek scholars, it is often taught in seminaries and NT Greek textbooks. The absence of a consensus about the function and purpose of the appearance of Greek present tense forms within historical narrative texts can explain this, in part. Research is ongoing, and new explanatory models have been suggested. The recently developed NT Greek Text-Fabric (TF) version of the Nestle 1904 text (N1904-TF) by the Center of Biblical Languages and Computing (CBLC) allows us to address the question of the function of HP with digital tools. This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing research on HP by using (TF-based) computersupported data-analysis tools. It shows how a distributional analysis of text types within the synoptic Gospels can shed new light on the background and function of HP. I suggest that the Gospel of Mark uses HP forms to shift from the narrative to the discoursive mode of communication.
Recommended Citation
Glanz, Oliver.
"A Distributional Synoptic Perspective on the So-called “Historical Present” Tense of Mark’s Gospel."
Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)
62.1
(2024):
.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/auss/vol62/iss1/6
