RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
Silva, Moises. Biblical Words and their Meanings.
Moises Silva begins by surveying the 20th century’s bizarre fascination with etymological theology: the structure of a single biblical word, usually in Hebrew, carried a world of theological meaning. This even went so far as the “Hebrew thought differently” than the pagan Greek (I actually believe there is a sense in which this is true, though not for the reasons that liberals thought it was. We will come back to this at the end).
The critique is best summarized by James Barr’s “illegitimate totality transfer.” Examples would include reading whole theologies of the church into Stephen’s use of ekklesia in Acts 7. In conclusion, Barr argues, “Theological thought of the type found in the NT has its characteristic linguistic expression not in the word individually, but in the word-combination or sentence” (quoted in Silva, kindle loc. 307).
What is the linguistic relationship between the LXX and the NT?
The answer divides into three parts: Hebrew-Greek lexical equivalences, the character of NT Greek, and LXX influence on NT vocabulary (loc. 811). Silva affirms that there is a Semitic background in the NT Greek, but one shouldn’t overplay the issue.
Half of this book is a very technical survey of 20th century linguistic theory. I’ve read some in that field, and even then I am not entirely sure what is going on. Much of it can probably be skipped.
He ends well, though. He gives the following template on finding the meaning of a biblical word. The bible student should completely ignore the history of a word’s development. Native speakers almost never care about that, and so it isn’t really helpful to the meaning.
(1) Greater extension (in a word’s range) entails a diminished intention (loc. 983). This also diminishes the role that the larger context plays on a word’s meaning.
(2) The student should determine to what extent the term is or isn’t referential (does it have a technical meaning?).
(3) Use a standard lexicon to determine the semantic range of a term.
(4) Consider the paradigmatic relations of the term. How would you classify it by its antonyms?
(5) Consider the syntagmatic combinations. How does it compare with related terms?
(6) Briefly consult its etymological history. Note if it has changed in meaning, but don’t tie the meaning to its development.
(7) What ambiguities would the writer have been aware of in using this term?
Moises Silva begins by surveying the 20th century’s bizarre fascination with etymological theology: the structure of a single biblical word, usually in Hebrew, carried a world of theological meaning. This even went so far as the “Hebrew thought differently” than the pagan Greek (I actually believe there is a sense in which this is true, though not for the reasons that liberals thought it was. We will come back to this at the end).
The critique is best summarized by James Barr’s “illegitimate totality transfer.” Examples would include reading whole theologies of the church into Stephen’s use of ekklesia in Acts 7. In conclusion, Barr argues, “Theological thought of the type found in the NT has its characteristic linguistic expression not in the word individually, but in the word-combination or sentence” (quoted in Silva, kindle loc. 307).
What is the linguistic relationship between the LXX and the NT?
The answer divides into three parts: Hebrew-Greek lexical equivalences, the character of NT Greek, and LXX influence on NT vocabulary (loc. 811). Silva affirms that there is a Semitic background in the NT Greek, but one shouldn’t overplay the issue.
Half of this book is a very technical survey of 20th century linguistic theory. I’ve read some in that field, and even then I am not entirely sure what is going on. Much of it can probably be skipped.
He ends well, though. He gives the following template on finding the meaning of a biblical word. The bible student should completely ignore the history of a word’s development. Native speakers almost never care about that, and so it isn’t really helpful to the meaning.
(1) Greater extension (in a word’s range) entails a diminished intention (loc. 983). This also diminishes the role that the larger context plays on a word’s meaning.
(2) The student should determine to what extent the term is or isn’t referential (does it have a technical meaning?).
(3) Use a standard lexicon to determine the semantic range of a term.
(4) Consider the paradigmatic relations of the term. How would you classify it by its antonyms?
(5) Consider the syntagmatic combinations. How does it compare with related terms?
(6) Briefly consult its etymological history. Note if it has changed in meaning, but don’t tie the meaning to its development.
(7) What ambiguities would the writer have been aware of in using this term?