Promise and Prayer: The Biblical Writings in the Light of Speech-Act Theory

by Anthony Thiselton

Publisher:

Cascade Books

, 2020

Overview

In the Bible, promise and prayer are essential and connected components of the inter-personal relationship between God and his people. And both promise and prayer are kinds of action undertaken by means of speaking, utterances philosophers refer to as speech acts. In the case of promises this is clear: they constitute firm commitments to act in certain ways under appropriate conditions. This book considers biblical examples of divine promise, from both Old and New Testaments. All speech acts depend upon institutional facts, and Thiselton argues that in the biblical writings Divine promises are based on the prior institution of God’s covenant. That same covenant forms the institutional context of prayer. Thiselton shows how different kinds of prayer—blessing, thanksgiving and praise, petition and intercession—count as speech acts in different ways and to different degrees.

Key Features

• Explores prayer and the promises of God as deeply inter-personal acts inspired by the Holy Spirit
• Discusses prayer as it is constituted by many modes of humandkind’s communication with God
• Argues that God’s promises normally constitute speech acts, which function in a distinctive way in contrast to propositions or statements

Contents

• Introduction: Promise and Prayer as Interpersonal Acts

Part I: Promise in the Biblical Writings

• Promise as a Speech Act
• Promises of God in the Old Testament
• God’s Promises in the New Testament
• Do All Biblical Promises Apply Universally?

Part II: Prayer in the Biblical Writings

• The Range of Types of Prayer in the Bibles
• Can Some Prayers Be Said to Constitute Speech Acts?
• Prayers of Blessing: Are These “Weaker” Speech Acts?
• Praise and Thanksgiving as Speech Acts
• Requests: Prayers That Led to Changes in Situation

Praise for Promise and Prayer

Intellectually sophisticated, biblically drenched, pastorally sensitive, but most of all wise, this book could hardly have been produced by any other theologian than Anthony Thiselton. The culmination of a lifetime of scholarship and of deep faith, Promise and Prayer is elegant, readable, and profound. Not only academic theologians, but also church people of all kinds, are well served by this account of prayer.

Tom Greggs, Marischal Chair and Head of Divinity, University of Aberdeen

This short study shines new light on two of the most familiar forms of biblical discourse, precisely by presenting them together. Both divine promise and human prayer are deeply interpersonal speech acts related to the ‘institutional fact’ of God’s covenant. In asking what promises and prayers do, Thiselton once again shows his ability to integrate exegesis, theology, and philosophy in illuminating new ways. And it comes with a bonus appendix: a magisterial survey of the use of speech act theory in biblical studies in general.

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Product Details

• Title: Promise and Prayer: The Biblical Writings in the Light of Speech-Act Theory
• Author: Anthony Thiselton
• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Logos Release Date: 2021
• Pages: 126
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Speech acts (Linguistics); Language and languages › Religious aspects--Christianity; Word of God (Christian theology); Prayer; Covenants › Biblical teaching
• ISBNs: 9781725253605, 9781725253612, 9781725253629, 1725253607, 1725253615, 1725253623
• Resource ID: LLS:PRMSPRYRSPCTHRY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-11-27T19:32:36Z

About Anthony Thiselton

Anthony C. Thiselton was professor of Christian Theology at the University of Nottingham. He held three doctorates (Ph.D, D.D., D.D) and published important works on 1 Corinthians, hermeneutics, and did research on modern theology, philosophy of religion, and the application of philosophy of language to biblical studies.