For the last few days while on vacation, I have been working through the relevant Peter Lang volumes on verbal aspect:

1. Stan Porter’s Verbal Aspect in the Greek New Testament, With Reference to Tense and Mood
2. Rod Decker’s Temporal Deixis of the Greek Verb in the Gospel of Mark with Reference to Verbal Aspect
3. Constantine Campbell’s Verbal Aspect, the Indicative Mood, and Narrative: Soundings in the Greek of the New Testament
   

I have focused most of my attention on Porter’s work so far, as I have not dealt at length with this work in some time. I am presenting a paper at SBL on the verbal aspect of the historical present  in the  “Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics” Section. I learned yesterday that my Greek paper is in the 4-6 pm session one day, and my Hebrew paper is the next morning. Not the preferred scheduling, but at least they are not the same day. As proof of my diligence, my wife documented me; note the Peter Lang cover.

Reading Porter's "Verbal Aspect" on Lake Chelan

I tend to write papers by reading all of the background literature, letting it stew and ferment into something palatable. It is rather simple to determine that there is a problem, it is something else to determine the exact nature of the problem. Many papers tend to focus on symptoms rather than the core problem. Tracing the symptoms back to the source and correctly identifying it is the key addressing the core issue.

With respect to verbal aspect, the general definitions of the verb tenses or forms capture the core concept. In re-reading Decker yesterday after several days in Porter, I had greater appreciation for his explanations. I have not gotten to Campbell yet. Despite being basically right, I have had the nagging sense that something was missing. Exactly what that something was has eluded me…

…Until last night (or more specifically, this morning) at 3:30 a.m., much to my wife’s chagrin. All of the data had finally percolated into something that could be served to others. I got up and straight away and wrote a three page, single-spaced outline  for the paper.

The vacation rental we are staying in (which I would highly recommend to others) has a pool table, on which my nephews and I have played many a game so far. I played horribly in the beginning, despite regularly playing in tournaments in college. Finally, after two days of playing, I began to “see” the shots. Rather than just aiming and trying to remember the spot on the object ball that I needed to hit, I returned to seeing the trajectory that the ball needed to take while preparing to strike the cue ball. I didn’t need to aim (in most cases), I could see the shot in my head.

It is the same thing now with my SBL paper. I have sorted through most of the data, chewed on the details, and now “see” the paper in my head. Now I just need to find the best means of presenting what I see in a way that is both accessible and focused. I can also sigh with some relief, though there is still quite a bit of work to do.

One paper down, one more to go. More details on what I see will follow in August.