When I say that the Bible contains redundancies, I use the term in the way that linguists do. Moises Silva offers the following input with regard to Biblical redundancies:
"It is unfortunate, however, that the term redundancy continues to be viewed in a purely negative light. Linguists, drawing on the work of communication engineers, have long recognized that redundancy is a built-in feature of every language and that it aids, rather than hinders, the process of communication" (Philippians, 12-13).
A prime example of redundancy in the Bible is Philippians 2:1 which B. F. Lightfoot describes as a "tautology of earnestness." This observation does not make Scripture any less sacred, but it simply recognizes the fact that God had Scripture recorded in human language and thus Bible writers follow normal syntactical and morphological rules and other standard speech conventions.
D. A. Black likewise provides discusses this subject in Linguistics for Students of NT Greek. On pp. 132-136, Black supplies examples of rhetorical devices like anaphora, anastrophe, asyndeton, polysyndeton, litotes, and pleonasm (redundancy).
Some examples of pleonasm are Colossians 1:23; Philippians 1:23; 2:1.
As for Philippians 2:1 in Greek, it reads:
Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος, εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί
2 comments:
A Rhetorical Device List that I have found useful, others here may also find this useful:
Alliteration, Allusion, Amplification, Anacoluthon, Anadiplosis, Analogy, Anaphora, Anastrophe,Antanagoge, Antimetabole, Antiphrasis, Antistrophe, Antithesis, Apophasis, Aporia, Aposiopesis, Apostrophe, Appositive, Archaism, Assonance, Asyndeton, Aureation, Brachylogy, Cacophony, Catachresis, Cataphora, Chiasmus, Chiastic structure, Climax, Conduplicatio, Copulatio, Diacope, Diction, Dirimens, Distinctio, Enthymeme, Enumeration, Epanalepsis, Epistrophe, Epithet, Epizeuxis, Eponym, Euphemism, Exemplum, Expletive, Hendiadys, Hypallage, Hyperbaton, Hyperbole, Hypophora, Hypotaxis, Hysteron-Proteron, Imagery, Irony, Litotes, Metabasis, Metanoia, Metaphor, Metonymy, Onomaton, Onomatopoeia, Oxymoron, Parade of horribles, Paradox, Parallelism, Paraprosdokian, Parataxis, Parenthesis, Paronomasia, Personification, Pleonasm, Polysyndeton, Praeteritio, Procatalepsis, Prolepsis, Question, Rhetorical, Rhetorical organization, Rhetorical question, Scesis, Sententia, Simile, Syllepsis, Symbolism, Symploce, Synchysis, Synecdoche, Synesis, Syntax, Tautology, Understatement, Zeugma
Bullinger on pleonasm: http://www.studylight.org/lexicons/fos/view.cgi?n=162
Post a Comment