The Semantics of Biblical Language

Should be required reading for all bible related studied

Item as expected.

The need for this study arose due to the popularity of a movement known as "biblical theology" which relied heavily on certain interpretive procedures which constantly mishandled or distorted the linguistic evidence. Although the author is not interested in critisizing biblical theology itself, he is interested in critisizing certain methods used in the handling of linguistic evidence used in theological discussion. This book is a critique on those interpretive methods.In biblical interpretation there exists not only the problem of translation, but also the problem of transculturation, which means we must consider the gaps between not only a Semitic language, an Indo-European language (Greek), and our own modern language, but also the gaps between the Ancient Near East, the Roman Empire, and our own modern culture. The author observes that it is doubtful that any other sphere of life other than the theological has so many people without special training who continually attempt a semantic transference across such gaps.While the author assumes that the reader will have a basic understanding of Hebrew and Greek, he actually writes more to "the middle of the road" in order to reach as wide an audience as possible, and is neither overly technical nor too simplistic. As such, even those who have no training in the biblical languages will be able to benefit from reading it. For instance, the chapter on contrast of Hebrew and Greek thought, which is quite informative, uses no foreign terms.This book, which was first published in 1961, has withstood the test of time, and the interpretive knowledge contained within its pages is just as pertinent today as when it was first written. This is a classic study and should be required reading for serious students of the Bible.

This is definitely a book intended more for scholars than the layman. With that caveat in mind, it's well written and Barr hammers home the thesis that Greek and Hebrew are no different than any other language and we shouldn't attribute some deep mystical meaning to them. Their words have the same range of meaning as in English, for example. Fundamentally, meaning comes down to sentences or paragraphs---detailed etymological arguments or obscure grammatical questions simply shouldn't be used in determining proper interpretation except in extremely rare cases. In our everyday speech and writing now, we don't leave our meaning dependent on word etymology or complex grammar and neither does Greek or Hebrew. Barr promotes this thesis aggressively and with much detail to back it up. It can get a bit thick to read through all the details but it's a good book to have read to give one perspective on the subject. I can also recommend God, Language and Scripture by Moises Silva as a book that touches on many of the same themes (and others). It has some thick sections about linguistics but in general it's more readable for the layman.

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For the average layman I would suggest a different book. I can't recommend anyone else yet because I need to start over and find a decent book that can show me the cultural differences between the Hebrews and Greeks. This writer addressed his book to other professionals in this field who obviously would recognize his references. This author continually referenced authors by name throughout the book and if they are as boring as he was then I'll never know what they wrote about.This is a very boring book to read and I wouldn't suggest anyone pay retail for it. If you can find it in a thrift store for about a dollar, then maybe. You wouldn't feel so guilty when you throw it away.

ok

it is ok for people at the diferent levels to review.Average is the accepted for its reading and using.