Fokkelman, Reading Biblical Poetry: An Introductory Guide

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uk canada goose outlet “What does Hebrew parallelism have to do with canada goose discount uk the New Perspective?” you ask. Quite a bit, actually. Let me explain by starting with the New Perspective end of the equation. One of the pillars of the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) is the view that in Paul is a cipher for “God’s covenant faithfulness.” N. T. Wright canada goose factory outlet toronto location is a well known advocate of this interpretation. For example, in his recent book on justification, he writes: uk canada goose outlet

“We can say with extremely solid assurance that ‘God’s righteousness,’ in Paul as in the Psalms and Isaiah, regularly refers to God’s own righteousness, not in the medieval senses which iustitia Dei generated, but in the Old Testament and canada goose outlet trillium parka black intertestamental sense of ‘the covenant faithfulness of God'” (Justification: God’s Plan Paul’s canada goose outlet montreal Vision [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2009], 164).

Canada Goose online According to Wright, in the Hebraic mindset, “righteousness” differs canada goose outlet london significantly from the Western, medieval concept of iustitia. Rather than being about conformity to an abstract norm or justice, has to do with “covenant faithfulness.” Wright bifurcates Hebrew and Roman concepts of “righteousness.” The Western, Reformation tradition canada goose outlet usa from Luther on got it all wrong because it interpreted “righteousness” in Roman rather than Hebraic categories. Canada Goose online

uk canada goose But what is the basis for this view that “righteousness” in the Hebraic way of thinking has to do with “covenant faithfulness”? are a number of canada goose outlet 2015 arguments for this theory, canada goose outlet price but appeals to the Psalms and Isaiah canada goose outlet online store as basis of this interpretation. uk canada goose

canada goose uk shop Here are two examples, one from Isaiah and one from canada goose outlet new york city the Psalms, where these terms occur in Hebrew parallelism: canada goose uk shop

canada goose store “My salvation is about to come; canada goose store

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“Hear my prayer, O LORD;

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Canada Goose Outlet Thus, Hebrew parallelism or, rather, canada goose outlet winnipeg a certain theory of Hebrew parallelism lies at the root of one of the foundational pillars of the NPP. I say, a certain theory of Hebrew parallelism, because, as Testament know, there canada goose outlet niagara falls are a variety of theories as to how Hebrew parallelism works. Let me briefly sketch the history of interpretation of Hebrew parallelism. Canada Goose Outlet

Canada Goose sale In the 18th century, the Anglican bishop, Robert Lowth, in his lectures “On the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews” (published in 1753) argued that there were three types of Hebrew parallelism: synonymous parallelism, antithetical parallelism, and synthetic or constructive parallelism. The first two types are exemplified in Psalm 2:5 6: Canada Goose sale

A1 “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

A2 Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

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cheap Canada Goose B2 But the way of the wicked will perish” (ESV). cheap Canada Goose

cheap canada goose uk A1 and A2 are a canada goose outlet website legit good example of synonymous parallelism, while B1 and canada goose outlet in new york B2 are clearly antithetical parallelism. Lowth’s third category was a kind of catch all for the many instances that did not seem to be either synonymous or antithetical. cheap canada goose uk

canada goose uk outlet Although Lowth’s analysis was widely accepted for two centuries, in the 1980s, James Kugel and Robert Alter challenged received Lowthian orthodoxy. rejected Lowth’s category of synonymous parallelism, pointing out that even when the two lines seem to be saying something roughly similar, are never perfectly equivalent, and that however small, canada goose outlet when viewed in light of the canada goose outlet nyc similarity of the two lines, produces a new meaning that goes beyond what each line contributes canada goose jacket outlet sale individually. canada goose outlet kokemuksia explain this, canada goose outlet jackets he “A, and what’s more, B.” The first line (A) is the primary statement; the second line (B) adds new information or a new perspective. (James L. Kugel, The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981].) canada goose uk outlet

A few years later, Robert Alter took Kugel’s approach and moved the ball down the field a few more yards. He fleshed out the specific canada goose outlet uk sale ways in which the B line heightens, intensifies, focuses and even dramatizes the A line. Alter speaks of “parallelism of specification” and “parallelism of intensification,” although he does acknowledge that, occasionally, one finds “static synonymity.” Alter’s main point is that “literary expression abhors complete parallelism usage always introducing small wedges of difference between closely canada goose outlet official akin terms.” He quotes Viktor Shklovsky who wrote that “the purpose of parallelism is to transfer the usual perception of an object into the sphere of a new perception that is, to make a unique semantic modification.” (Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry [New York: Basic Books, 1985], 3 26).

More recently, the Dutch scholar J. P. Fokkelman explained Kugel Alter of parallelism with the helpful metaphor of binoculars. Just as binoculars provide depth perception by bringing two nearly https://www.getcanadagooseoutlet.com identical but nevertheless distinct pictures together to form a new unity, so in Hebrew parallelism the canada goose outlet florida similarities and the differences between the two lines complement one another, and the result is that whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Parallelism helps canada goose outlet reviews us to see in stereo. (J. P. Fokkelman, Reading Biblical Poetry: An Introductory Guide [transl. Ineke Smit; Louisville: WJK, 2001], 78 79.)

As you canada goose jacket outlet uk can see, the New Perspective claim that “the righteousness of God” is a cipher denoting “God’s saving faithfulness to his covenant” rests on the outdated Lowthian theory of Hebrew synonymous parallelism. Rather than equating “righteousness” with “faithfulness” (or “salvation”), it is better to see the instances in the Psalms and Isaiah where these terms canada goose outlet 80 off are used in parallelism as “binoculars” in which these different concepts mutually interpret one another and lead to a picture that is larger than the sum of its parts.

God’s salvation is the result of his faithfulness to his covenant with Abraham. God’s salvation is also an expression of his righteousness, because he executes salvation in a manner that is consistent with his justice and holiness; indeed, salvation itself is an essentially judicial activity, for salvation comes through judgment. For example, at the Exodus, God’s deliverance canada goose outlet in vancouver of his people was accomplished by judgment on Egyptians.

Canada Goose Parka To conclude, canada goose shop uk the static Lowthian theory of synonymous parallelism has been superseded in the last 30 years by a more nuanced understanding, and this scholarly shift in interpretation of Hebrew poetry one of the pillars of the NPP. When properly understood, Hebrew parallelism provides no support for the theory that is cipher for God faithfulness to his covenant Canada Goose Parka.