Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics
It's a dream. I know they're not really connected to Biblical studies, but I would love to see the series Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics and Cambridge Studies in Linguistics in Logos -- Bible translators around the world would love it too!
Also:
Language Typology & Syntactic Description 3 volumes edited by Timothy Shopen. These would be awesome in Logos.
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Mike Aubrey said:
It's a dream. I know they're not really connected to Biblical studies, but I would love to see the series Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics and Cambridge Studies in Linguistics in Logos
While I am not familar with these particular resources, I would like Logos to move a bit more into linguistics, logic and philosophy as they relate to Bible study ...
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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MJ. Smith said:
While I am not familar with these particular resources
You're probably familiar with a few volumes at least -- they're both massive series'. Textbooks has existed since the 70's (e.g. Comrie's Aspect).
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You are right on the money Mike! I just finished Brown and Yule's text on Discourse Analysis, and loved it (also found afterwords how oft-quoted it is in the literature of text linguistic studies)
Very close to these is the series by Stanley Porter, you might want to check it out, I just loaded it up and have never been happier--the Sheffield Reader collection, it covers the whole Bible with linguistic insights. Also a fantastic resource is the JSNTS supplement series (I'm currently on the resource, "Transitivity Based Foregrounding in the Book of Acts", and love it) which has seemingly countless resources/articles on the topic. Honestly, though, what I'd like to see before we jump into Cambridge's texts is MAK Halliday's materials--Functional Grammar, and Language as a Social Semiotic--these are the addmitted foundation of many of NT's application of linguistics from the Porter school and others.
I must give a lot of credit to our very own scholar at Logos, though--Steve Runge and his good friend and mentor, Stephen Levinsohn for spawning my interest in this area of study with their books--Runge, Discourse Grammar, and Levinsohn, Discourse Features of the Greek NT. Without these two gentlemen, I simply would never have found my way into the literature and studies that I have. Thank you two, I hope to make the difference in other's live's that you have in my own.
I am glad you made a forum on this Mike, it has become my personal research interest in Biblical studies and, if you would, please pray that I could make it up to McMaster University to study with Stanley Porter, he seems like a great guy and has made wonderful strides to penetrate this discipline in the NT field of exegesis and hermeneutics (which is the direction I aspire to develop in my life as well).
Thanks again Mike, if you have any other insights, updates, readings, etc. I am happy as a clam to hear'em.
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Oh yea, I also forgot to mention the pre-pub, "Filologia Neotestimentaria" (sp?) I have read many entries of this journal and found it insightful.
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JR Woods said:
Honestly, though, what I'd like to see before we jump into Cambridge's texts is MAK Halliday's materials--Functional Grammar, and Language as a Social Semiotic--these are the addmitted foundation of many of NT's application of linguistics from the Porter school and others.
Unfortunately this is true. I generally find Halliday's work lacking and less than useful for the study of ancient languages. Halliday has done great work in language acquisition, but Systemic Functional Grammar offers little to linguistic theory that isn't done better by other approaches. Also, grounding yourself in Halliday's work will only hinder you in the long run for interacting with other linguistic approaches simply because he SFL tends to use terminology in dramatically different ways than the mainstream field
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Mike Aubrey said:
It's a dream. I know they're not really connected to Biblical studies, but I would love to see the series Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics and Cambridge Studies in Linguistics in Logos -- Bible translators around the world would love it too!
Also:
Language Typology & Syntactic Description 3 volumes edited by Timothy Shopen. These would be awesome in Logos.
I would like to see this series as well (or at least choice portions of it). Oxford appears to have some complementary volumes like Alan Cruse's Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics.
Studying linguistics should prove useful for students, pastors, translators, and scholars in diverse fields, such as biblical studies, literature, and philosophy. I am just an amateur, but I have already been greatly challenged and have benefited from reading authors like Steven Runge, Stephen Levinsohn, Randall Buth, Alan Cruse, and Sperber and Wilson. It should also fit Logos's older and newer brands such as Logos and Noet. I think the Cambridge series would be highly relevant! (Speaking of which, let's also get some texts on Relevance Theory.)
Here are some of the books Mike was talking about:
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Such resources can go to Noet.
Personally speaking, I do not see these resources helping the average minister, exegete or seminarian. Advanced original-language grammars already distil the relevant information, bible-wise. Monographs (many available in Logos) cover many of the remaining niches.
The average busy minister, exegete or seminarian will not have time for cross-linguistic studies. I shudder to think of an average student of the bible mining Sperber & Wilson for exegetical wisdom.
Translators ... that's another matter.
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Lee said:
Such resources can go to Noet.
Personally speaking, I do not see these resources helping the average minister, exegete or seminarian. Advanced original-language grammars already distil the relevant information, bible-wise.
The average busy minister, exegete or seminarian will not have time for cross-linguistic studies. I shudder to think of an average student of the bible mining Sperber & Wilson for exegetical wisdom.
Translators ... that's another matter.
Good points, Lee. I think for many or most students a good book / reference work on lexical semantics would be very helpful. Personally, I haven't read Moises Silva's Biblical Words and Their Meaning, so I do not know how it holds up. That said, I think people like Buth, Levinsohn, Runge (among others) are filling a much needed gap for bible students. My comments were rather general (not applying equally to everyone). I wouldn't really recommend that anyone and everyone race off to read Sperber and Wilson. I would recommend that the average seminarian or minister first and foremost make a daily practice of reading their Greek and Hebrew bibles.
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Hmmm. This is where I'd part company.
Linguistics/semantics would considerably aid 'seminarians' (whatever that might be ... sounds like students wishing to either learn or get a checkoff). Pastors? I'd bet their daily battle to communicate gets a real life exercise in linguistics/semantics (especially semantics with their spouses).
I don't know how many times I've read that the NT manuscripts have only minor differences in the meaning; mainly spelling and 'adjustments'. What a crock. That could only come from 20th century greek grammarians (hebrewists would never be so naive).
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Discourse and such matters are merely an arrow in a quiver full of other arrows. They might turn out to be very important in battle, or utterly insignificant. Disregard them, and you may lose a chance to get to the point of a passage. Make too much out of them, well then maybe you have your glasses on the wrong way.
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Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11
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I'd buy what Mike suggests.
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