Semantics of Biblical Language

by James Barr

Publisher:

SCM Press

, 1983

Overview

Arguing that many Evangelicals mishandle linguistic evidence in their exegesis, James Barr analyzes in detail several common patterns that can put sound Bible interpretation out of reach. Barr’s analysis drew a good deal of criticism and was explosive in Evangelical circles. However, decades later, Barr’s conclusions still demand serious consideration. This book poses questions that are essential for all serious Bible students to wrestle with.

Behind the academic and innocently descriptive title of this book is one of the most explosive works of biblical scholarship of the 20th century. Certainly many of those who read it when it was first published were never the same again. It signaled the coming end of what hitherto had been a flourishing literature on a 'biblical theology' that was primarily dependent upon the meaning of individual words. In the 1980's again, Professor Barr wrote a new preface, having come to believe that one of the greatest dangers to sound exegesis comes from the consistent and regular use of methods that mishandle and distort the linguistic evidence of Greek and Hebrew.

Barr argues that the traditional assumptions of the earely and mid-20th century about how Greek and Hebrew culture influences the writers way of thinking and the linguistic structure of the languages is misguided. Popular ideas about how Greek vocabulary and Hebrew vocabulary show evidence of how Greeks and Hebrews thought are demonstrated to be fundamentally false.

Key Features

• Structualist Semantics analysis of Hebrew and Greek lexicography
• Critical examination of standard theological lexicons
• Seminal piece of research in biblical studies

Contents

• The Importance of the Problem
• The Current Contrast of Greek and Hebrew Thought
• Problems of Method
• Verbs, Action and Time
• Other Arguments from Morphological and Syntactic Phenomena
• Etymologies and Related Arguments
• ‘Faith’ and ‘Truth’—An Examination of some Linguistic Arguments
• Some Principles of Kittel’s Theological Dictionary
• Language and the Idea of ‘Biblical Theology’
• Languages and the Study of Theology

Top Highlights

“In this modern theological attempt to relate theological thought to biblical language I shall argue that the most characteristic feature is its unsystematic and haphazard nature. For this lack of system I think there are two reasons—firstly the failure to examine the relevant languages, Greek and Hebrew, as a whole; and secondly the failure to relate what is said about either to a general semantic method related to general linguistics.” (Page 21)

“One of the types of argument which I shall criticize in this study is that which places excessive emphasis on the meaning of the ‘root’ of Hebrew words. It seems to be commonly believed that in Hebrew there is a ‘root meaning’ which is effective throughout all the variations given to the root by affixes and formative elements, and that therefore the ‘root meaning’ can confidently be taken to be part of the actual semantic value of any word or form which can be assigned to an identifiable root; and likewise that any word may be taken to give some kind of suggestion of other words formed from the same root. This belief I shall for the sake of brevity call ‘the root fallacy’.” (Page 100)

“Our interest here however is in the connections made between the contrast outlined above, which was a contrast of ways of thinking, and the differences between the Greek and Hebrew languages. The validity of the thought contrast is no part of our subject; our subject is (a) the way in which the thought contrast has affected the examination of linguistic evidence, and (b) the way in which linguistic evidence has been used to support or illustrate the thought contrast.” (Page 14)

Praise for the Print Edition

Barr’s book, The Semantics of Biblical Language, was a trumpet blast against the monstrous regiment of shoddy linguistics. Controversial throughout, undiplomatic at times, it has been recognized as a major contribution to biblical studies.

—Moisés Silva, Biblical Words and Their Meaning, 18.

It will be evident that this book takes us into deep waters; nor can it be described as an easy book to read. But it is an important book, raising questions which ought to be considered and exposing faults and fallacies which ought to be exposed

—R. McL. Wilson, review in New Testament Studies, 1962.

Product Details

• Title: The Semantics of Biblical Language
• Author: James Barr
• Publisher: SCM Press
• Print Publication Date: 1983
• Logos Release Date: 2015
• Pages: 319
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible › Language, style
• Resource ID: LLS:SCMSMNTCSBIBLANG
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-09-24T16:39:24Z

About James Barr

James Barr (1924–2006) was an Old Testament scholar noted for his contributions to the study of biblical languages. His book The Semantics of the Biblical Languages remains one of the most influential books on the subject. He held professorships at the University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester, Princeton University, and Vanderbilt University.