Discourse Studies and Biblical Interpretation: A Festschrift in Honor of Stephen H. Levinsohn

by Steven Runge

Publisher:

Lexham Press

, 2011

Overview

Stephen H. Levinsohn is by no means the only SIL International member deserving recognition for significant contributions to the field of biblical studies; all too frequently such work goes unrecognized, even if it is appreciated in some quarters. The goal of this volume is to see that at least in Stephen's case, his work receives the commendation that it deserves. Each of the contributors to this volume has had their ideas challenged or influenced by Levinsohn's work, and each counts it an honor to contribute to a volume honoring him. The caliber of these scholars should dispel any doubts about why we're honoring Stephen's work in this Festschrift; the list of contributors speaks for itself.

Contents

• "Discourse Analysis as an Aid to Bible Translation" by Iver Larsen
• "Why Hasn't Literary Stylistics Caught on in New Testament Studies?" by Stanley E. Porter
• "Let Me Direct Your Attention: Attention Management and Translation" by Robert A. Dooley
• "How Orality Affects the Use of Pragmatic Particles, and How It Is Relevant for Translation" by Regina Blass
• "Organization and Allusion in Ezekiel 20" by R. J. Sim
• "Breaking Perfect Rules: The Traditional Understanding of the Greek Perfect" by Constantine R. Campbell
• "Greek Presents, Imperfects, and Aorists in the Synoptic Gospels: Their Contribution to Narrative Structuring" by Buist Fanning
• "The Verbal Aspect of the Historical Present Indicative in Narrative" by Steven E. Runge
• "Particles and Participles: A Helpful Partnership" by Margaret G. Sim
• "The Semantic Effect of Floating Quantifiers in New Testament Greek" by Lindsay J. Whaley
• "The Discourse Function of ἀλλά in Non-Negative Contexts" by Rick Brannan
• "Information Structure Issues in Copular εἶναι Clauses" by Nicholas A. Bailey
• "Evaluating Luke's Unnatural Greek: A Look at His Connectives" by Randall Buth
• "The Use of the Article Before Names of Places: Patterns of Use in the Book of Acts" by Jenny Read-Heimerdinger

Top Highlights

“I think it is safe to say that δέ is an adversative particle. It signals change.⁹ Its various functions should correlate with this basic idea. Therefore a change of participants is acceptable, but introduction of new participants is not. It may indicate a change of scene, and that may mean that new participants come onto the scene, but strictly speaking δέ does not introduce these participants. A change from event-line to background or from background to event-line is also acceptable. That it may introduce a response in general as suggested by Levinsohn¹⁰ is questionable, but it may well introduce an adversative, uncooperative, or hostile response. A co-operative, expected response would be introduced by καί or asyndeton. However, it often introduces a change of speaker.” (Page 13)

“A third alternative is to regard the Greek perfect as imperfective in aspect, as put forth by Evans and myself.³³ Imperfective aspect is used to depict actions internally, as though unfolding.” (Page 151)

“An aspect that is specific to Greek is that a major participant is often referred to by a pronoun alone.” (Page 25)

“Verbal aspect should be defined as a ‘viewpoint’ feature. This means that aspect is a matter of the speaker’s (or writer’s) portrayal or point of view. It is not directly related to the actual character of the situation described. It is governed by what the speaker chooses to focus on, not by features of the objective situation.” (Page 158)

“Koine Greek is best understood as a mixed tense-aspect verbal system, grammaticalizing both in the indicative.” (Page 191)

Product Details

• Title: Discourse Studies and Biblical Interpretation: A Festschrift in Honor of Stephen H. Levinsohn
• Editor: Steven E. Runge
• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Pages: 448
• Format: Logos Digital, Paperback
• Trim Size: 6x9
• ISBN: 9781577995203

About Steven Runge

Steve Runge has a Doctor of Literature degree in biblical languages from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, supervised by Christo Van der Merwe. He currently serves as a research associate affiliated with the department of ancient studies at the University of Stellenbosch.

In preparation for his doctoral research, Steve completed several years of study in the linguistic fields of pragmatics and discourse grammar. This culminated in attending a workshop on discourse analysis offered by SIL/Wycliffe Bible Translators, facilitated by Stephen H. Levinsohn. He has also earned a Master of Theological Studies degree in biblical languages from Trinity Western Seminary in Langley, BC, and a BA in speech communication from Western Washington University.

Steve has served as a visiting professor teaching Greek discourse grammar at Knox Theological Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He also served as an adjunct faculty member at Northwest Baptist Theological College, Trinity Western University, and Associated Canadian Theological Schools (ACTS) while completing his education. He is very active in the church. He and his wife were married in 1990. They have two daughters, and live in Bellingham.