Discourse Analysis - Already but Not Yet

clayton stirling bartholomew c.s.bartholomew at worldnet.att.net
Sun Jul 30 14:57:22 EDT 2000


Anyone thinking that discourse analysis  has made serious inroads into the
study of the Greek NT should talk to some of the people currently preparing
major commentaries for major publishers.

I had a brief exchange last week with a fellow taking a research sabbatical
at Cambridge who is preparing a commentary on a major NT book for a well
known series by a well known publisher (Don't ask me, I can't tell you).

Anyway, this fellow informed me that he was unfamiliar with the current work
on discourse analysis (e.g., Roehampton Institute, SIL) and implied that
this was not a topic he intended to look into in preparation for writing his
book.

The irony of this is that the general editor of the commentary series this
fellow at Cambridge is contributing to (his boss on this project) is very
familiar with the current research on discourse analysis. So one is tempted
to conclude that discourse analysis is not considered an important aspect of
doing NT exegesis, since the general editor is well informed on the subject
but has chosen contributors who are not prepared to use this body of theory
and methodology. These commentaries are not "home bible study guides", they
are major works some of which will be used for at least the next 50 years.

So it seems that Discourse Analysis has not quite arrived yet.

 
--  
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062





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