Adelbert Denaux, «Style and Stylistcs, with Special Reference to Luke.», Vol. 19 (2006) 31-51
Taking Saussure’s distinction between language (langue) and speech
(parole) as a starting point, the present article describes a concept of ‘style’
with special reference to the use of a given language system by the author of
Luke-Acts. After discussing several style definitions, the question is raised
whether statistics are helpful for the study of style. Important in the case of
Luke is determining whether his use of Semitisms is a matter of style or of
language, and to what extent he was influenced by ancient rhetoric. Luke’s
stylistics should focus on his preferences (repetitions, omissions, innovations)
from the range of possibilities of his language system (“Hellenistic Greek”),
on different levels (words, clauses, sentences, rhetorical-narrative level and
socio-rhetorical level), within the limits of the given grammar, language
development and literary genre.
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Style and Stylistcs, with Special Reference to Luke
Appendix
Quintilian on Style
In his well known handbook Institutio Oratoria, Marcus Fabius
Quintilianus (+ before 100 A.D.) summarises the Greco-Roman tradition
of how to educate an orator. According to him, the art of oratory consists
of five parts: invention, arrangement, expression, memory, and delivery
or action (III, 3,1). In fact, the third part, called elocutio, deals with the
question of “styleâ€, because style has to do with how one expresses his
subject74. Books VIII, IX, X, and XI, 1 are devoted to this subject. In
I, 5,1 however, he already affirms: “Style has three kinds of excellence,
correctness, lucidity and elegance (for many include the all-important
quality of appropriateness under the heading of elegance)â€75. In Book VIII,
1,1, he again enumerates the “virtues†of style in the following way: “What
the Greek call φÏασίς, we in Latin call elocutio or style. Style is revealed
both in individual words and in groups of words. As regards the former,
we must see that they are Latin, clear, elegant and well-adapted to produce
the desired effect. As regards the latter, they must be correct, aptly placed
and adorned with suitable figuresâ€76. By correctness, he understands the
correct use of (the Latin) language. Lucidity is the opposite of the obscure,
almost not understandable use of language. Elegance points to the beauty
of the language, and appropriateness indicates the quality of choosing
the language that is appropriate to the subject, circumstances of time and
place, and to the audience.
- The first virtue or quality of style is “correctness of speechâ€
(emendate loqui) (VIII, 1,1). In fact, this first quality of style is part
of the study of grammar (I, 5,1-71). “The teacher of literature therefore
must study the rules for correctness of speech, these constituting the first
part of his art. The observance of these rules is concerned with either
Already Aristotle, Art of Rhetoric III,1,2, speaking about style (λέξις) said: “For it is
74
not sufficient to know what one ought to say, but one must also know how to say it, and this
largely contributes to making a speech appear of a certain character†(cf. Aristotle’s “Artâ€
of Rhetoric, with an English Translation by John Henry Freese (LCL 193; Cambridge, MA
- London 1926 [repr. 1994] 345)
Cf. H.E. Butler (ed.), The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian. Vol. 1 (LCL 124;
75
Cambridge, MA - London 1920 [repr. 1989]) 78-9: Iam cum omnis oratio tres habeat
virtutes, ut emendata, ut dilucida, ut ornata sit (quae dicere apte, quod est praecipuum,
plerique ornatui subiiciunt) (I,5,1).
Cf. H.E. Butler (ed.), The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian. Vol. 3 (LCL 126 ;
76
Cambridge, MA - London 1921 [repr. 1986]) 194-95: Igitur, quam Graeci φÏασίς, Latine
dicimus elocutionem. Ea spectatur verbis aut singulis aut coniunctis. In singulis intuendum
est ut sint Latina, perspicua, ornata, ad id quod efficere volumus accomodate, in coniunctis,
ut emendata, ut collocata, ut figurata (VIII,1,1)
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