This collection of essays explores the rich intellectual heritage of Russian Formalism and the Prague School of Linguistics to illuminate their influence on the field of biblical studies and apply their constructive and creative potential for advancing linguistic theory, discourse analysis, and literary interpretation of the texts of the Old and New Testaments in their original languages
The most comprehensive and accessible introduction to scriptural art yet written Literary Study of the Bible: An Introduction approaches each book of the Bible (including several of the apocrypha) with non-sectarian literary questions, exploring the meanings that the Bible reveals when we read it like a poem, narrative, or play. As a unique hybrid of introductory guide, essential handbook, historical survey, and absorbing commentary, this book fills a gap in literary Bible study with its fresh perspectives on the biblical writers’ many arts. Readers will engage in wide range of textual approaches and interpretive traditions through this broadly informed, accessibly written text. Dr. Christopher Hodgkins has taught Literary Study of the Bible for 25 years, over which time he has field-tested the many lenses—of genre, image, language, characterization, plot, and craft—used throughout this book. Tracing the sources, composition, and influences of the Biblical text, this book places the Bible in a tradition of ancient near eastern, Hebrew, and Hellenistic literary art, giving new depth to the way we understand the familiar stories of scripture. Unlike other literary introductions to the Bible, this book uniquely combines these elements: Approaches the Bible as a richly collaborative and coherent work of literary art, exploring how earlier books influence the creation and interpretation of later ones Provides illuminating commentary supplemented by explanatory textboxes, maps, illustrations, and study questions to enhance interest and expand learning Introduces poetic and narrative devices like doubling, juxtaposition, and irony within the context of scriptural art and editorial design Gives extensive attention to each biblical book, resulting in the most comprehensive introduction to literary Bible study to date Presents these materials through an accessible and lively text permeated with references to both high and popular culture Literary Study of the Bible will be a welcome addition to personal, school, college, and congregational libraries, as well as an excellent text for students of the Bible in both secular and faith-based settings.
In committing themselves to the study of texts, linguists have taken a long stride in a literary direction. As discourse analysis brings the tools of linguistic analysis to bear on stretches of material larger than the sentence, they come into close contact with the artistry of literature. In the last third of this century, scholars of the Hebrew Bible are gravitating in the same direction. Perhaps even more consciously, they are studying their texts as literature. Cross-pollination between these two groups is now in order. The present volume is intended to help that happen. It originates with biblical scholars and is addressed to our colleagues. Its purpose is to introduce to them the developing field of linguistics known as discourse analysis. In addition to students of the Hebrew Bible, those who study ancient Near Eastern literatures, the New Testament, and early Jewish writings should find the following essays immediately relevant. Students of literatures from other times and areas should also be able to benefit because of the pervasive emphasis on methodology. - Preface.
We rarely think about the way languages work because communicating in our native tongue comes so naturally to us. The Bible was written in ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—languages no modern reader can claim to have a native understanding of. A better understanding of how language works should help us understand the Bible better as we seek to discern the original intent and meaning of each biblical author. In this book, you will get a basic introduction to the field of linguistics—its history, its key concepts, its major schools of thought, and how its insights can shed light on various problems in biblical Hebrew and Greek. Numerous examples illustrate linguistic concepts, and technical terminology is clearly defined. Learn how the study of language can enhance your Bible study.
In 2016, the Centre for Biblical Linguistics, Translation, and Exegesis (CBLTE), a research center located at McMaster Divinity College, hosted the annual Bingham Colloquium. Scholars from around North America were invited to participate in a collegial and collaborative dialogue on what is currently happening (or could happen) at the intersection of linguistics and biblical studies, particularly in regards to the linguistic study of biblical languages, their translation, and the way that linguistic methods can contribute to the interpretation of the biblical texts. This volume of essays publishes many of the presentations that took place at the Colloquium.
Rediscover the incomparable literary richness and strength of a book that all of us live with an many of us live by. An international team of renowned scholars, assembled by two leading literary critics, offers a book-by-book guide through the Old and New Testaments as well as general essays on the Bible as a whole, providing an enticing reintroduction to a work that has shaped our language and thought for thousands of years.
The essays in this volume arose out of the Society of Biblical Literature section on linguistics and Biblical Hebrew and have been selected to provide a summary and statement of the state of the question with regard to a number of areas of investigation. The sixteen articles are organized into sections on phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, discourse analysis, historical/comparative linguistics, and graphemics.
Preliminary Material /Cynthia L. Miller --Introduction /Cynthia L. Miller --Metapragmatics and Linguistic Diversity in the Representation of Speech /Cynthia L. Miller --Syntactic Varieties of Indirect Speech /Cynthia L. Miller --Syntactic Varieties of Direct Speech /Cynthia L. Miller --Reported Speech in Conversation and Narration /Cynthia L. Miller --The Discourse-Pragmatic Functions of Direct Speech /Cynthia L. Miller --Conclusions /Cynthia L. Miller --Afterword /Cynthia L. Miller --Additions and Corrections for the Second Printing /Cynthia L. Miller --Matrix Verbs in Frames /Cynthia L. Miller --Bibliography /Cynthia L. Miller --General Index /Cynthia L. Miller --Index of Biblical References /Cynthia L. Miller.
The study of the Bible has long included a literary aspect with great attention paid not only to what was written but also to how it was expressed. The detailed analysis of biblical books and passages as written texts has benefited from the study of literature in classical philology, ancient rhetoric, and modern literary criticism. This volume of the Lexham Methods Series introduces the various ways the study of literature has been used in biblical studies. Most literary approaches emphasize the study of the text alone—its structure, its message, and its use of literary devices—rather than its social or historical background. The methods described in Literary Approaches to the Bible are focused on different ways of analyzing the text within its literary context. Some of the techniques have been around for centuries, but the theories of literary critics from the early 20th century to today had a profound impact on biblical interpretation. In this book, you will learn about those literary approaches, how they were adapted for biblical studies, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Writing, reading, and interpretation are acts of human minds, requiring complex cognition at every point. A relatively new field of studies, cognitive linguistics, focuses on how language and cognition are interconnected: Linguistic structures both shape cognitive patterns and are shaped by them. The Cognitive Linguistics in Biblical Interpretation section of the Society of Biblical Literature gathers scholars interested in applying cognitive linguistics to biblical studies, focusing on how language makes meaning, how texts evoke authority, and how contemporary readers interact with ancient texts. This collection of essays represents first fruits from the first six years (2006–2012) of that effort, drawing on cognitive metaphor study, mental spaces and conceptual blending, narrative theory, and cognitive grammar. Contributors include Eve Sweetser, Ellen van Wolde, Hugo Lundhaug and Jesper T. Nielsen.
