13 Is Verbal Aspect a Prominence Indicator? tense has been chosen to mark it as such or was it just the most natural tense to use for this kind of generalizing utterance? The use of the genitive absolute construction (v. 23) in this passage is also intriguing. According to Levinsohn “the employment of the G[enitive] A[bsolute] with the same subject as the previous clause ... gives natural prominence to the event described in the following nuclear clause”41. In v. 23, however, the genitive absolute employs a present tense, Porter’s fore- ground tense, whereas the following nuclear clause employs an aorist (cf. 9,57; 13,17; 17,12). Porter’s theory of aspectual prominence, therefore, clashes with Levinsohn’s observation; they cannot both be correct. Exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac (8,26-39) This account not only displays all the typical features of an exorcism42 but also deliberately dwells upon the man’s plight by including more de- tail than is characteristic for Luke. Although the whole of vv. 26-29 could be classified as introductory, it would be a loss to conclude that this is all it is. Verse 26 assumes the same participants as those who survived the storm in 8,22-25, i.e. Jesus and the disciples, and identifies a new location for the following story. Verse 27 introduces one of the main participants and provides a fairly detailed description of him, which also anticipates the problem to be resolved. The detailed description and the plural δαιμόνια serve to inten- sify the gravity of the problem and so the story is infused with tension from the outset. Verse 28 selects one of those whose presence is assumed by explicitly naming him (Ἰησοῦν) and then proceeds to document the initial meeting of the two main participants. Thus, the stage is set; the two main participants have been introduced and brought together. Verse 29, however, interrupts the chronological sequence, by providing an explanatory flashback. This background information not only explains the conflict reported in v. 28, but also further elucidates the gravity of the problem thereby increasing the importance of the solution. It is unlikely that the discovery of the demons’ name (v. 30) had anything to do with the belief that knowing the demon’s name unlocked the power to perform the exorcism43. Rather, it further intensifies the severity of the problem since a Legion denoted a military unit of approximately six thousand soldiers. Luke has presented this man’s condition as virtually impossible Levinsohn, Discourse, 182. 41 Bultmann, History, 210; Bock, Luke, 1:769. 42 So Nolland, Luke, 1:409. 43