Repetition Is Helpful If Done Right; Appropriately Repeating Yourself Can Help Your Listener

Higher criticism is a school of thought which attributed the simularity of many stories in the Old Testament, especially in the Books Of Moses, to a redactor combining several traditions into book. In other words, according to higher criticism the repetition is a result of an editor having the same material twice and he did not want to through either out so he used both. There is a lot made over which name of God is used, Elohim or Yahweh, as a way of deviding up the texts. When I first heard the theory I was disturbed that there was an attitude that the scripture was not the Word Of God. There seems to have developed a consensous among conservative scholars that results of the higher criticism are so varied that shows the theory as bankrupt. While this is true, David Dorsey in his book
The Literary Structure of the Old Testament: A Commentary on Genesis-Malachi
shows how the repetition is not a mistake, but a feature. This understanding of the Old Testament text is probably the strongest arguement against the higher critical school of thought. For instance the two stories of Abraham telling someone Sarah is his sister is repeated, not because a redactor (editor) did not know what to do with the story but because the author wanted to emphasize a point. (Abraham is not earning God's favor through his righteous life but he is weak and given God's grace freely.) Often the story of Judah's sexual sin with Tamar is seen as a strange story, but Dorsey rightly points it out as a study of contrast of Joseph and his fleeing sexual sin. Judah does wrong and is blessed; Joseph does right and is thrown in prison. It is a repetition which explains.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Was the New Testament Letters Only Written to Male Brothers?

  Question:   Was the Bible written to men only and not to women?   Some teach that the New Testament letters address brothers exclusively.      Executive Summary Answer:   Women and men share in the blessings of the gospel, Scripture was written for both women and men. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27 ESV) Answer:   The Bible recognizes differences between genders but also recognizes the commonality between male and female genders.   The book of Proverbs is written to sons to gain wisdom.   “Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”   (Prov. 1:8-9 ESV) The book of Proverbs was written in order to teach young men wisdom.   Even so, often it is the female gender that teaches wisdom.   Early in the book, the male gender, a son, is to embrace the teaching from a member of the
Read more

In The Hours

Image
In The Hours Words by Helen L. Parmelee Music by Kevin Twit http://www.igracemusic.com/hymnbook/lead/inthehours.pdf This song by Indelible Grace is one that really moves me. I think it moves me because it reminds me of my own story. The words remind me of God's work in my life through the blessing of suffering. A lot of my best days walking with my Lord has actually been days of suffering. Verse one reminds me of growing up when I felt rejected by others but God was my song. 1. In the hours of pain and sorrow, When the world brings no relief When the eye is dim and heavy, And the heart oppressed with grief While blessings flee, Savior Lord we trust in Thee! While blessings flee, Savior Lord we trust in Thee! Verse two talks about my drifting from the Lord when I was caught up in pride and the sin of self-sufficiency. 2. When the snares of death surround us, Pride, ambition, love of ease Mammon with her false allurements, Words that flatter, smiles that please Then ere we yield, S
Read more

Celtic Words In English

I once heard a lecturer say that English was made up at its heart three languages; Anglo-Saxon (A Germanic tongue), French (influence from William the Conquerer A.D. 1066), and Latin (from the church and scholars). She also mentioned that Celtic had been the language of England before the influence of the Anglo-Saxons and some “tie together words” had been brought into English. I assumed she meant words which tie sentences together, or nouns. But I was not sure which words she meant in particular. So I did a little research to find out what those relics in our language are. It seems that Celtic has few words surviving in English. I'm not counting the Celtic words which came in through other languages such as French. I'm not sure that there is a definitive list of Celtic words in English but here are a few I found in various places on the Internet and a book I have. ass (borrowed earlier by the Celts from the Latin asinus) bannock bard blarney bucket car cart clock coll
Read more