TIP OF THE DAY 108: Speaking with style - related terms

MJ. Smith

I am adding these posts to the previous tip list L/V 10 Tip of the Day

QUESTION: What is the LSTO datatype shown for analogy?

SOFTWARE: See Thompson, Jeremy. Lexham Systematic Theology Ontology: Dataset Documentation. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2019.

ANSWER: The Lexham Systematic Theology Ontology is a reference system used to identify the topics in systematic theology books across multiple resources. The top levels are:

The Doctrine of the Triune God

God’s Existence

The Divine Names

God’s Attributes

The Trinity

The Divine Decrees

The Doctrine of Scripture and Revelation

General Revelation

Special Revelation

The Doctrine of the Works of God

Creation

Providence

Covenants

The Doctrine of Humanity

The Image of God

Human Nature

Humanity’s Fall into Sin

The Person and Work of Christ

The Person of Jesus

Jesus As Mediator

Jesus’ Accomplishment of Salvation

The Holy Spirit and Salvation

The Mission of the Spirit

The Spirit’s Application of Salvation

The Doctrine of the Church

The Attributes of the Church

The Church’s Institutional Life

The Church’s Mission

The Doctrine of the Last Things

The Kingdom of God

Life after Death

Jesus’ Second Coming

The Final Judgment

For more detail see the table of contents of the Lexham Survey of Theology companion resource. There are total of 234 categories in all.[1]

QUESTION: What is the figurative language label and how does it differ from figure of speech?

SOFTWARE: See Westbury, Joshua R., Jeremy Thompson, Jimmy Parks, and Kristopher A. Lyle, eds. Lexham Figurative Language of the Bible Glossary. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016.

ANSWER: Figures of speech is drawn strictly from Bullinger, Ethelbert William. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible. London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898. It uses the traditional distinctions and vocabulary that would have been familiar to the authors of the New Testament. The figures are organized as follows:

First Division. Figures Involving OMISSION

I.Affecting words

II.Affecting the sense

Second Division. Figures Involving ADDITION

I.Affecting words

II.Affecting the sense, by way of

1.Repetition

2.Amplification

3.Description

4.Conclusion

5.Interposition

6.Reasoning

Third Division. Figures Involving CHANGE

I.Affecting the meaning and usage of words

II.Affecting the order and arrangement of words

III.Affecting the application of words, as to

1.Sense

2.Persons

3.Subject-matter

4.Time

5.Feeling

6.Reasoning[2]

Figurative language is drawn from contemporary resources i.e.

The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

The Harper Colllins Bible Dictionary

The Lexham Bible Dictionary

The Dictionary of Bible Themes

The Anchor Bible Dictionary

The Lexham Theological Wordbook

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (BDAG)

Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon (LSJ)

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament[3]

Its foundation is modern linguistics rather than classical rhetoric. It uses a limited number of categories:

Metaphor — An association between two conceptual domains where one abstract concept (nonphysical, unfamiliar, or less structured) is presented in terms of some other concrete concept (physical, familiar, or more structured).

Structural Metaphor — A complex metaphor that relies on a rich knowledge structure and provides a rich set of mappings between source and target domains.

Ontological Metaphor — A metaphor that radically reframes the ontological status of an abstract concept in terms of an object, such as a container or substance.

Container Metaphor — An ontological metaphor in which some concept is represented as having an inside making it capable of holding something else.

Entity Metaphor — An ontological metaphor in which a specific concrete entity is used to conceptualize an abstract concept.

Objectification — An ontological metaphor in which an abstract concept is conceptualized and talked about as though it were a physical object.

Personification — An ontological metaphor in which an abstract concept is conceptualized as a person.

Substance Metaphor — An ontological metaphor in which an abstract concept, such as an event, activity, emotion, or idea is represented as a material substance.

Orientational Metaphor — A metaphor which represents an abstract concept in terms of spatial orientation.

Image Metaphor — A type of metaphor where an image of some entity is mapped onto the image of another entity.

Metonymy — The use of one entity to refer to a related entity within the same conceptual domain.

Simile — A conventional construction that typically employs the words “like” or “as” to overtly signal a comparative mapping between similar attributes or relations between two concepts.

Narrow Scope Simile — An attribute(s) within a source concept is explicitly compared to an attribute(s) in a target concept such that the frame of comparison is explicitly clear.

Broad Scope Simile — An attribute(s) within a source concept is explicitly compared to an attribute(s) in a target concept. Unlike narrow-scope similes, however, the frame of comparison in Broad-scope Similes is not explicitly clear, and therefore requires further explanation.

Euphemism — An expression used in place of another expression that is disagreeable or offensive.

Dysphemism — An expression used in place of a more neutral, or euphemistic expression, to surprise or cause offense to the hearer.

Idiom — An expression whose meaning cannot be deduced on the basis of its individual words or constituents.

Symbolism — A physical gesture, event, or action that represents some emotional, sociocultural and/or religious meaning.

Hyperbole — The deliberate use of exaggeration for rhetorical and emotional effect.[4]

A typical entry for a figurative language term provides links to Factbook and reference books:

Winepress as Wrath of God — The wrath of God is conceptualized as a winepress.

Source: Winepress

Factbook | Winepress

Target: Wrath of God

Factbook | Wrath of God

Category: Entity Metaphor

Reference Works

•Winepress (Dictionary of Bible Themes)

•Winepress (The Lexham Bible Dictionary)

•Anger of God (Dictionary of Bible Themes)

•Divine Wrath (Lexham Theological Wordbook)

•Wrath (The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary)[5]

QUESTION: What is the proverb label?

SOFTWARE: See Parks, Jimmy. Proverbs Explorer Dataset Documentation. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018.

ANSWER: For purpose of Logos/Verbum coding, a proverb in defined as:

A proverb should stand on its own.

It should be short.

It should deal in absolutes rather than specifics of time, place, or situation.

It should deal in tropes (eg, “a ruler” or “no one”) rather than actual persons or places.

It should be focused on a single idea.

It should express a truth that is obvious after the fact, but in a non-obvious way.

It should exhibit a certain elevation of tone.

It should have a structure that belies some intentional wordsmithing, that is, an amount of artifice.

Not included are simple quotations of OT Scripture, unless creatively quoting the first half of one verse and the second half of another, unrelated verse to recombine them into a new saying.

Not included are commands, if it seems like they are direct or to a specific audience rather than universal.[6]

Two pieces of information are assigned to a proverb – type and form. The types are:

Prologue: Introductory comments to a set of proverbs.

Advice: Predicated as a direct address, often to a specific hearer.

Characterization: An attempt to define a class of persons by their characteristics.

Consequence: A saying that describes the probable result of a certain behavior or action.

Means: The description of the means by which a result occurs.

Ode to Wisdom: The personification of wisdom where the benefits of wisdom are listed and glorified.

Saying: The most general type of proverb, an assertion of a general truth.[7]

And the forms are:

Antithetical Parallel: The second half of a parallel expression expresses the opposite sentiment of the first half.

Better/Than: A comparison between something that is better than another thing.

List: A list or progression of material.

Redirection: A topic is redirected to something new.

Similar Parallel: The second half of a parallel statement restates the first half.

Simile: An explicit comparison using the adverbs “like” or “as”.

Statement: A non-parallel statement that expresses a complete thought through both lines.

Synthetic Parallel: The second half of a parallel expression builds on the first half.[8]

[1] Jeremy Thompson, Lexham Systematic Theology Ontology: Dataset Documentation (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2019).

[2] Ethelbert William Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London; New York: Eyre & Spottiswoode; E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), xvii.

[3]“The Lexham Figurative Language of the New Testament Dataset,” in Lexham Figurative Language of the Bible Glossary, ed. Joshua R. Westbury et al. (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).

[4]“The Lexham Figurative Language of the New Testament Dataset,” in Lexham Figurative Language of the Bible Glossary, ed. Joshua R. Westbury et al. (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).

[5]“The Lexham Figurative Language of the New Testament Dataset,” in Lexham Figurative Language of the Bible Glossary, ed. Joshua R. Westbury et al. (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2016).

[6] Jimmy Parks, Proverbs Explorer Dataset Documentation (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018).

[7] Jimmy Parks, Proverbs Explorer Dataset Documentation (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018).

[8] Jimmy Parks, Proverbs Explorer Dataset Documentation (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2018).