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Putting the Pieces Together
Formalizing Units and Structures in the Biblical Languages
Edited by Stanley E. Porter, Christopher D. Land and James D. Dvorak
Series: McMaster New Testament Studies Series
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
Languages consist of a wide variety of interesting elements, many of which have not yet been fully described or explored. In this book, written by experts in Hebrew and Greek, various elements of the Hebrew and especially Greek languages are described and analyzed for their possible theoretical and practical implications for exegesis of the Bible. The topics range from the various linguistic theories used within biblical linguistics to focused studies upon syntactical markers, nominal elements, the various functions of language, and register studies. Specialists will discover challenging studies, and interested explorers will be challenged to learn more about ancient Hebrew and Greek.
Stanley E. Porter is President, Dean, and Professor of New Testament, as well as holder of the Roy A. Hope Chair in Christian Worldview, at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Christopher D. Land is Associate Professor of New Testament and Linguistics at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
James D. Dvorak is Vice President Academic and Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
“The title says it well: ten seasoned scholars bring together important facets of discourse analysis in the Systemic-Functional (i.e., Hallidayan) Linguistic tradition that press beyond mechanistic conceptions of language and encourage consideration of the semantics of circumstantials, the roles of semantic units, the interpretation of conditional particles, speech functions, cohesion and coherence, register analysis, and the import these play today as we draw personal, social meaning from ancient texts.”
—Jonathan Watt, professor of biblical studies, Geneva College
“In a world where interpretations of the Bible abound, but credible arguments for those interpretations are often lacking, this volume showcases the value of using modern linguistics as an indispensable tool for more objectively assessing competing readings of the biblical text.”
—Martin M. Culy, founding editor, Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament
“It is impossible to discuss biblical languages anymore without recourse to insights from linguistics. But what is needed more and more are clear examples of how insights into linguistics actually affect the way we interpret biblical texts. We need to see linguistic theory modeled in application to biblical texts. This collection of essays does just that. Especially for those who learn by seeing examples at work, this collection of essays will be a welcome tool to understanding how linguistics actually ‘works’ in the use of the Hebrew and Greek languages for biblical interpretation. I highly recommend this volume.”
—David L. Mathewson, associate professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary