Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation

by David Alan Black; Katharine Barnwell; Stephen H. Levinsohn

Publisher:

B&H

, 1992

Overview

As an introduction to Greek discourse analysis, Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation places special emphasis on its practical application to the language of the New Testament. Its aim is to provide the reader with an understanding of the contribution discourse analysis makes to understanding the NT message. Part I of the book introduces some fundamental principles of discourse analysis. Part II analyzes the discourse features of selected New Testament texts.

Black, et al, assembles here fourteen essays on NT discourse analysis (DA), a modern translational methodology. DA is broadly defined as the attempt to study the organization of language above the sentence level, concentrating on larger linguistic units such as entire conversations or written texts. In its attempt to understand a text’s flow of thought, DA not only analyzes how it produces that flow of thought, it also investigates the relationships between language, action, thought, and situation. Chief among its concerns is to show the internal coherence or unity of a particular text. It is a holistic study of the text. This volume examines the place of discourse analysis in biblical exegetics.

Contents

Top Highlights

“As has been demonstrated by Callow (1989), all verbal or written communicative attempts are for the primary purposes⁵ of: (1) affecting the emotions of the audience, (2) affecting the ideas of the audience, or (3) affecting the behavior of the audience.” (Page 46)

“One should be careful not to be overconfident. It usually pays to graph the discourse structure carefully.” (Page 26)

“As such, discourse analysis is a type of translation pointing to the gist of the argument developed in the text. It offers a reading of the text that can be justified by the constrains of the text and can now serve as a framework to look into more detailed matters of exegesis, including comments on single words and phrases.” (Page 25)

“To do discourse analysis is to recognize that the interpreter is no longer analyzing mere words and sentences but moving beyond this level of language and asking important questions about the text as a whole.” (Page 13)

“Thus a parable could be long or short, simple or complex in construction, plain or elaborate in development, and more or less figurative in nature.” (Page 103)

Praise for the Print Edition

Patiently working through many of the articles of this volume will repay the reader handsomely—not only in fresh insights on particular texts, not only in new methods for approaching old problems, not only in a systematic means of accounting for the ways he or she reads a text, but also in renewed excitement and enthusiasm for the task of interpreting the NT.

—Richard Erickson, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

Product Details

• Title: Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation: Essays on Discourse Analysis
• Editors: David Alan Black, Katherine Barnwell, Stephen Levinsohn
• Publisher: Broadman & Holman
• Publication Date: 1992
• Pages: 319

About David Alan Black

David Alan Black currently serves as Professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He has written or edited over 100 essays and 14 books, including Learn to Read New Testament Greek. He and his wife and sons live on a ranch near Oxford, North Carolina.