In the Beginning Was the Word: Language--A God-Centered Approach - Softcover

Poythress, Vern S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1433501791 ISBN 13: 9781433501791

Verlag: CROSSWAY BOOKS, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

With scriptural teaching and broad-ranging application, this follow-up to Redeeming Science builds a Christian theology of language and reforms our thinking about words.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Vern S. Poythress (PhD, Harvard University; ThD, University of Stellenbosch) is Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Biblical Interpretation, and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he has taught for four decades. In addition to earning six academic degrees, he is the author of numerous books and articles on biblical interpretation, language, and science.

Vern S. Poythress (PhD, Harvard University; ThD, University of Stellenbosch) is professor of New Testament interpretation at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he has taught for nearly four decades. In addition to earning six academic degrees, he is the author of numerous books and articles on biblical interpretation, language, and science.

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In the Beginning Was the Word

Language — A God-Centered Approach

By Vern Sheridan Poythress

Good News Publishers

Copyright © 2009 Vern S. Poythress
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4335-0179-1

Contents

Chapter 1: The Importance of Language, 
Part 1: God's Involvement with Language, 
Chapter 2: Language and the Trinity, 
Chapter 3: God Speaking, 
Chapter 4: God's Creation of Man, 
Chapter 5: God Sustaining Language, 
Chapter 6: Creativity in Language, 
Chapter 7: Exploring Examples of Language, 
Chapter 8: The Rules of Language, 
Chapter 9: God's Rule, 
Chapter 10: Responding to God's Government, 
Part 2: From Big to Small: Language in the Context of History, 
Chapter 11: Small Pieces of Language within the Big Pieces, 
Chapter 12: Imaging, 
Chapter 13: World History, 
Chapter 14: The Fall into Sin, 
Chapter 15: Redemption through Christ, 
Chapter 16: Peoples, Cultures, and Languages, 
Chapter 17: Principles for Cultural Reconciliation, 
Chapter 18: Good and Bad Kinds of Diversity, 
Chapter 19: Human Action, 
Part 3: Discourse, 
Chapter 20: Speaking and Writing, 
Chapter 21: Analysis and Verbal Interpretation, 
Chapter 22: Interpreting the Bible, 
Chapter 23: Genre, 
Part 4: Stories, 
Chapter 24: Storytelling, 
Chapter 25: The Story of Redemption, 
Chapter 26: Many Mini-redemptions, 
Chapter 27: Counterfeit Stories of Redemption, 
Chapter 28: Modern Reinterpretations of Redemptive Stories, 
Chapter 29: Stories about Jesus, 
Part 5: Smaller Packages in Language: Sentences and Words, 
Chapter 30: Sentences in Use: Foundations in Truth, 
Chapter 31: Foundations for Meaning in Trinitarian Inter-personal Action, 
Chapter 32: Subsystems of Language, 
Chapter 33: Words and Their Meanings, 
Chapter 34: From Words to Perspectives, 
Part 6: Application, 
Chapter 35: Truth as a Perspective, 
Chapter 36: Living in the Truth, 
Interaction with Other Approaches to Language, 
Appendix A: Modernism and Postmodernism, 
Appendix B: Doubt within Postmodernism, 
Appendix C: Non-Christian Thinking, 
Appendix D: Platonic Ideas, 
Appendix E: The Contribution of Structural Linguistics, 
Appendix F: Translation Theory, 
Appendix G: Symbolic Logic and Logical Positivism, 
Appendix H: The Theory of Speech Acts, 
Appendix I: Reaching Out to Deconstruction, 
Supplementary Reflections, 
Appendix J: Special Cases of Human Speech, 
Bibliography, 

CHAPTER 1

The Importance of Language

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host — Psalm 33:6

Language is wonderful and mysterious. It is so because it is a gift of God to us. It reflects and reveals him.

How does language reflect God? According to the Bible, God himself can speak, and does speak. We are made like him, and that is why we can speak. When we use language, we rely on resources and powers that find their origin in God. In fact, as we shall see, language reflects God in his Trinitarian character. We can appreciate language more deeply, and use it more wisely, if we come to know God and understand the relation of God to the language we use.

Because I am a follower of Christ, I trust in the Bible as the word of God. The Bible is a foundational resource for my thinking about language. From time to time we will look briefly at other views of language. But my primary purpose is helping people increase their appreciation for language, using the Bible for guidance. If you as a reader are not yet convinced about the Bible, I would still invite you to think with me about language. The actual character of language does, I believe, confirm what the Bible says.

The Central Role of Language

Language has a central role in human living. We spend a lot of our time talking and listening. Education constantly uses language. Television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet use language. Friendships are cemented and maintained through language. All these are sources of meaning in our lives.

Some tasks, such as washing dishes, do not demand using language. But even they gain significance from what we say and think about them. We wash dishes because through language we have learned about bacteria, sickness, and how washing helps protect health. And washing dishes can be more pleasant if we are talking with a friend while doing it.

We could go on. Many of the most significant and precious moments in life gain significance through language. So examining language itself could contribute significantly to reorienting our lives. That is why we are going to take a long look at language and its meaning.

The Importance of Language in the Bible

The Bible confirms the importance of language. It says that in the beginning God created the world using language: "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light" (Gen. 1:3).

The first recorded interaction between God and man involved God speaking in language concerning man's task:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Gen. 1:28).

Adam and Eve fell into sin through the serpent's use of language to tempt them the serpent said, "You will not surely die" (Gen. 3:4). Shortly afterward, God gave hope to Adam and Eve through a promise of redemption, and the promise was expressed in language:

The Lord God said to the serpent, ..
"I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:14–15).

One of the principal aspects of Jesus' earthly ministry was teaching and proclaiming a message. He used language; he had much to say. And he made plain the importance of his teaching:

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine [Jesus' words] and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it" (Matt. 7:24–27).

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead by issuing a verbal command: "Lazarus, come out" ( John 11:43). Jesus' words have power. The future resurrection of the body will take place through the power of Jesus' words: "... for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his [Jesus'] voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment" ( John 5:28–29). At the last judgment people will be judged according to their words:

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matt. 12:36–37).

And how can we escape condemnation? The answer to condemnation is found in the gospel, the good news...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: CROSSWAY BOOKS
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1433501791
• ISBN 13: 9781433501791
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 415
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar