Learning the Language of Scripture

Origen, Wisdom, and the Logic of Interpretation
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-90-04-44853-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 24, 342 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 601 g

Reihe: Studies in Systematic Theology

In Learning the Language of Scripture, Mark Randall James offers a new account of theological interpretation as a sapiential practice of learning the language of Scripture, drawing on recently discovered Homilies on the Psalms by the influential early theologian Origen of Alexandria (2nd-3rd c. C.E). Widely regarded as one of the most arbitrary interpreters, James shows that Origen’s appearance of arbitrariness is a result of the modern tendency to neglect the role of wisdom in scriptural interpretation. James demonstrates that Origen offers a compelling model of a Christian pragmatism in which learning and correcting linguistic practice is a site of the transformative pedagogy of the divine Logos.

Autoren/Hrsg.

James, Mark Randall

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophische Logik, Argumentationstheorie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte Frühes Christentum, Patristik, Christliche Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Introduction

1 The Problem of Hermeneutic Arbitrariness

2 Origen and Arbitrariness

3 Method: Descriptive Logic

4 Learning the Language of Scripture

1 Origen and Stoic Logic

1 Stoic Philosophy of Language

2 Origen on Language and Logic

3 Conclusion

2 From Lexis to Logos

1 The Pedagogy of the Logos

2 Elements of the Movement from Lexis to Logos

3 Conclusion

3 The Pragmatics of Scriptural Utterances

1 Deixis

2 Implicature

3 Conclusion

4 The Grammar of Scriptural Language

1 Inquiry and Vagueness

2 Habits of Scripture

3 Invention

4 Conclusion

5 The Deification of Discourse

1 Bold Speech

2 Parrhesia and Deification

3 Conclusion

6 Origenism as Pragmatism: A Sketch of a Sapiential Hermeneutic

1 Wisdom

2 Scripture and Philosophy

3 Sapiential Interpretation

4 Towards a Sapiential Theology of Scripture

Works Cited

Index of Citations

Index of Names and Subjects

Über Autor(innen)

Mark Randall James, Ph.D. (2015), University of Virginia, is an independent scholar. He was Visiting Professor of Religion at Colgate University in 2020. He has published essays on Origen, pragmatism, and scriptural interpretation, and he co-edited Signs of Salvation (2020).