33 AN EXPLANATION FOR THE ANACOLUTHA IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION IWAN M. WHITELEY The book of Revelation is generally considered to contain a lot of gram- matical mistakes. This article suggests that these grammatical inconsisten- cies are a feature of John’s own hermeneutical agenda. There is an explana- tion of how John directed his reader towards his evolutionary morphosyntax and a list of various kinds of anacolutha are provided. Introduction The Greek anakoluthon can be translated as ‘inconsistency in logic’. It is used in linguistics to point out when a sentence is lacking grammati- cal succession. There are many times in Revelation when the sentences do not follow grammatically. It has been common for commentators to deduce that the author made a mistake at these points. This position can be found as early as the 3rd century; Dionysius of Alexandria (c.190-265) said of John, ‘I perceive... that his dialect and language are not accurate Greek, but that he uses barbarous idioms, in some places solecisms’1. Mussies’ comment on Dionysius’ statement is useful: This criticism owes its importance to the circumstance that it has been passed by a person who spoke Greek in his daily life, and was separated from the author of the Apc. by a shorter lapse of time than we are. All the same we must be aware of the fact that this interval is still as long as that between Byron (1788-1824) or Goethe (1749-1832) and our time2. A solecism is ‘a mistake of grammar or idiom’ and Revelation is gen- erally considered to contain a lot of them. Swete provides a list3 and he Dionysios of Alexandria, quoted in Eusebius Hist. eccl. 7.25.26; Philip Schaff & Henry 1 Wace, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church vol.1 (Michigan 1986) 311; also C. Ozanne, ‘The Language of the Apocalypse’, THB 16 (1965) 3. G. Mussies, The Morphology of Koine Greek: As Used in the Apocalypse of St. John 2 (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, 27; Leiden 1971) 4. H. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John (New York 1906) cxxiii; also A. Robertson, A 3 Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research 4th ed. (New York 1923) 413-14. Filología Neotestamentaria - Vol. XX - 2007, pp. 33-50 Facultad de Filosofía y Letras - Universidad de Córdoba (España)