Semantic Variation within the Corpus Paulinum: Linguistic Considerations Concerning the Richer Vocabulary of the Pastoral Epistles
It is generally conceded that the vocabulary of the Pastoral Epistles is substantially richer than the vocabulary of the other ten Paulines. Still, most of the hapax legomena of the Pastorals are close semantic neighbours to the vocabulary shared with the rest of the Corpus Paulinum. From a strictly...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2008
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| In: |
Tyndale bulletin
Year: 2008, Volume: 59, Issue: 2, Pages: 271-292 |
| Further subjects: | B
Pastoral Epistles
B Linguistics B Style B Epistles B paul B New Testament |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | It is generally conceded that the vocabulary of the Pastoral Epistles is substantially richer than the vocabulary of the other ten Paulines. Still, most of the hapax legomena of the Pastorals are close semantic neighbours to the vocabulary shared with the rest of the Corpus Paulinum. From a strictly linguistic perspective the semantic richness of the Pastorals indicates that in the process of composition their author had more time at his disposal than the author(s) of the other ten Pauline Epistles. Both in terms of syntax and semantics the style of the Pastoral Epistles simply has a greater affinity to written language than that of the rest of the Corpus Paulinum which more closely resembles (conceptual) orality. Therefore the historical question concerning the authorship of the Pastorals cannot be answered primarily on the basis of their stylistic peculiarities. In his often quoted study P. N. Harrison concluded that particularly for stylistic reasons the Pastorals cannot have been written by the same author as the rest of the Pauline epistles. However, in the light of recent linguistic research this conclusion appears to be questionable. Indeed, other criteria must be judged more significant than the semantic (and syntactic) peculiarities of the Pastorals. |
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| ISSN: | 0082-7118 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Tyndale bulletin
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.53751/001c.29259 |