This collection brings together into one volume papers first delivered in the Section on Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings in 1992 and 1993. Part I, on discourse analysis, includes an introductory survey of the field, followed by three major papers and two responses. Each author uses his particular model of discourse analysis to analyse the book of Philippians, paying particular attention to the question of unity. Part 2, on other topics in biblical Greek, includes a probing introduction on the nature of language and five papers on a range of other areas of study.

This volume examines and outlines a Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) model of discourse analysis and its relationship to New Testament Greek. The book reflects upon how SFL has grown as a field since it was first introduced to New Testament Greek studies by Stanley E. Porter in the 1980s. Porter and Matthew Brook O'Donnell first introduce basic concepts regarding discourse analysis and the major approaches towards it within New Testament studies. They then provide a detailed exploration of discourse analysis in terms of the textual metafunction, beginning with an introduction to the architecture of language within SFL, before exploring several individual elements within it. By focusing upon these individual components – in particular, theme and information structure, markedness and prominence, and coherence and cohesive harmony – Porter and O'Donnell introduce and exemplify the major resources of the textual metafunction.

The first part of this volume includes a summary of this important area of study in both Septuagintal and New Testament Greek, and a review of these issues in the context of linguistic research generally. A second part includes contributions on aspects of research into the Greek of both Testaments, featuring both new areas of research, such as critical discourse analysis, and more traditional issues such as the nature of the Septuagint translation.

The imperative mood as a whole has generally been neglected by Greek grammarians. The Greek Imperative Mood in the New Testament: A Cognitive and Communicative Approach utilizes insights from modern linguistics and communication theory in order to propose an inherent (semantic) meaning for the mood and describe the way in which it is used in the New Testament (pragmatics). A linguistic theory called neuro-cognitive stratificational linguistics is used to help isolate the morphological imperative mood and focus on addressing issues directly related to this area, while principles from a communication theory called relevance theory provide a theoretical basis for describing the usages of the mood. This book also includes a survey of New Testament and select linguistic approaches to the imperative mood and proposes that the imperative mood is volitional-directive and should be classified in a multidimensional manner. Each imperative should be classified according to force, which participant (speaker or hearer) benefits from the fulfillment of the imperative, and where the imperative falls within the event sequence of the action described in the utterance. In this context, sociological factors such as the rank of participants and level of politeness are discussed together with other pragmatic-related information. The Greek Imperative Mood in the New Testament is a valuable teaching tool for intermediate and advanced Greek classes.

Advances in the Study of Greek offers an introduction to issues of interest in the current world of Greek scholarship. Those within Greek scholarship will welcome this book as a tool that puts students, pastors, professors, and commentators firmly in touch with what is going on in Greek studies. Those outside Greek scholarship will warmly receive Advances in the Study of Greek as a resource to get themselves up to speed in Greek studies. Free of technical linguistic jargon, the scholarship contained within is highly accessible to outsiders. Advances in the Study of Greek provides an accessible introduction for students, pastors, professors, and commentators to understand the current issues of interest in this period of paradigm shift.

In this volume, a leading expert brings readers up to date on the latest advances in New Testament Greek linguistics. Stanley Porter brings together a number of different studies of the Greek of the New Testament under three headings: texts and tools for analysis, approaching analysis, and doing analysis. He deals with a variety of New Testament texts, including the Synoptic Gospels, John, and Paul. This volume distills a senior scholar's expansive writings on various subjects, making it an essential book for scholars of New Testament Greek and a valuable supplemental textbook for New Testament Greek exegesis courses.

In this book, Constantine R. Campbell investigates the function of verbal aspect within New Testament Greek narrative. He argues that the primary role of verbal aspect in narrative is to delineate and shape the various 'discourse strands' of which it is constructed, such as mainline, offline, and direct discourse. Campbell accounts for this function in terms of the semantic value of each tense-form. Consequently, in the search for more effective conclusions and explanations, he challenges and reassesses some of the conclusions reached in previous scholarship. --From publisher's description.

In The Greek Article, Ronald D. Peters presents a grammar of the Greek article and relative pronoun, categorized as ὁ-items, which was formulated using the principles of Systemic-Functional Linguistics. This categorization stands in contrast to previous grammars, which have categorically associated the article with the demonstrative pronoun. Thus, the present work represents a significant paradigm shift in the study of the Greek article. Unlike previous approaches that have too often yielded internally inconsistent and contradictory rules of usage, this approach results in a description of the article’s function that is uniform across all occurrences. Simultaneously simple and robust, this grammar promises to pay significant dividends for exegetes and translators of the Greek New Testament.

An Accessible, Up-to-Date Intermediate Greek Grammar This intermediate grammar for students of New Testament Greek incorporates the advances of recent linguistic research in an accessible and understandable way. Drawing on years of teaching experience at a leading seminary, the authors help students extend their grasp of Greek for reading and interpreting the New Testament and related writings. They make extensive use of New Testament texts to illustrate each grammatical category. Long enough to provide substantial help yet concise enough for frequent practical use, this book is ideal for intermediate Greek and Greek exegesis classes. It is also a valuable resource for preachers and others.

The volume contains contributions by many of the major discourse analysts of the New Testament, including E.A. Nida, W. Schenk, J.P. Louw and J. Callow. Some of these essays deal with methodology, raising necessary questions about what it means to analyse discourse. Others demonstrate an already committed approach by reading specific texts. A 'state-of-the-art' volume for all scholars interested in this increasingly important area of New Testament research.