Marking Thought and Talk in New Testament Greek: New Light from Linguistics on the Particles 'hina' and 'hoti'

This book uses insights from a modern theory of communication, Relevance Theory, to examine the function of the particle 'hina' in New Testament Greek. It claims that the particle does not have a lexical meaning of "in order that," contrary to accepted wisdom, but that it alerts the reader to expect an interpretation of the thought or attitude of the implied speaker or author. Evidence is adduced from pagan Greek and in particular the writings of Polybius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Epictetus, as well as the New Testament. The implications of this claim give an opportunity for a fresh interpretation of many problematic texts.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Larry W. Hurtado Acknowledgements Abbreviations Chapter 1 Introduction; Background to Study; Problem to be Addressed; Review of Scholarly Opinion; Classical Greek - Grammars; Koine Greek; TRADITIONAL GRAMMARS; PARTICULAR PROPOSALS FOR THE USE OF i; ANALYSIS PRESENTED BY GREEK GRAMMARIANS; Corpus; Theoretical Basis for Book; Arrangement of Chapters; Summary Chapter 2 Theoretical Basis for Study; Introduction; Relevance Theory; General Background; Delineation of Theory; INFERENCES; HOW INFERENCES ARE SAID TO BE DRAWN; CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION; UNDERDETERMINACY; SHARED CONTEXTUAL ASSUMPTIONS; UNDERDETERMINACY IN PARTICIPLES; UNDERDETERMINACY IN PARTICLES; METAREPRESENTATION; PROCEDURAL MARKERS; OSTENSIVE BEHAVIOUR; Purpose or Intention in Koine; Summary Chapter 3 Independent Clauses Introduced by 'hina' 4; Introduction; Use of 'hina' to Give an Answer to Question; Question and Answer by the Same Speaker; Examples from Polybius and Epictetus; New Testament Examples; Expressing Desire and Intention; Johannine Examples; Examples from Orators and Rhetoricians; DEMOSTHENES; DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS; Examples from Septuagint and Non-Literary Papyri; SEPTUAGINT; EXAMPLES FROM PAPYRI; Examples from the Epistles; Introducing a Quotation from the Old Testament; Indicating Speaker's Interpretation; Reporting the Thoughts or Speech of Others; Summary Chapter 4 Requests, Commands, Prayers Introduced by 'hina' Introduction; Authorial Choice; Table 1; Synoptic Examples in Indirect Commands; Healing of Jairus' Daughter; MATTHEW 9:18; MARK 5:23; LUKE 8:41, 42; CONCLUSION; The Healing of a Boy with a Demon; MATTHEW 17:15, 16; MARK 9:17, 18; LUKE 9:38, 40; CONCLUSION; The Healing of the Demon Possessed Man; MATTHEW 8:34; MARK 5:17; LUKE 8:37; CONCLUSION; Authorial Choice in Same Context; Examples from Literary Koine; Examples from Dionysius of Halicarnassus; Examples from Polybius; Examples from Epictetus; Summary Chapter 5 Noun Clauses Introduced by 'hina'; Introduction; Review of Metarepresentation; Explication of a Noun, Adjective or Demonstrative; Adjectives in Stative Clauses; NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLES; EXAMPLES FROM THE DISCOURSES OF EPICTETUS; Nouns and Demonstratives in Stative Clauses; Nouns in Non-Stative Clauses Complemented by 'hina' Clauses; NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLES; EXAMPLES FROM DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS; Noun Clauses with Impersonal Verbs; Noun Clauses which Function as Object of Main Verb; Examples from the New Testament; Examples from Epictetus; Prophetic Utterance Introduced by 'hina'; Summary Chapter 6 Purpose Clauses Introduced by 'hina'; Introduction; Purpose as Indicating Intention, and Beyond; Contents; The Role of Context in Interpreting 'hina'; Purpose Attributed; AUTHOR'S ACKNOWLEDGED ATTRIBUTION OF INTENT; REPRESENTATION OF INTENTION OF SUBJECT; PURPOSE FROM OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOUR; INTERPRETATION OF BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS; ATTRIBUTION OF INTENTION WITHOUT EVIDENCE; Other Ways of Expressing Purpose; Disputed purpose Clauses; Summary Chapter 7 Investigating 'hoti'; Introduction; Classical Greek; Direct Speech; Indirect Speech; Causal Clauses; Koine Greek; Direct Speech; Indirect Speech; EXAMPLES FROM EPICTETUS AND POLYBIUS; EXAMPLES FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT; Causal Clauses; EXAMPLES FROM EPICTETUS AND POLYBIUS; EXAMPLES FROM NEW TESTAMENT; Summary Chapter 8 Diachronic Use of 'hina'; Introduction; Classical Greek 500-300 BCE; Table 2; Hellenistic Greek 300-150 BCE; Graeco-Roman 150 BCE to 300 CE; Separation of Registers; HIGH LEVEL OF LANGUAGE: DIONYSIUS AND LUKE-ACTS; MORE COLLOQUIAL: EPICTETUS AND PAUL; Trends in Hellenistic Becoming More Marked; General Linguistic Changes; PHONETIC CHANGES; SYNTACTIC CHANGES; Language of the New Testament; Table 3;Explanations Advanced for Use of 'hina' in New Testament; Modern Greek; Summary Chapter 9; Conclusion; Introduction; A Relevance Theoretic Approach to 'hina' A Lexical Meaning for 'hina'?; Taxonomic Approach to 'hina'; The Combination of 'hina' and a Subjunctive Verb; Diachronic Change in the Use and Frequency of 'hina'; Interpretation of 'hina' Clauses; Implications of Hypothesis; Implications for Interpretation; THE COMBINATION OF 'hina' AND plhrw=; 'IMPERATIVAL 'hina'; w(/ra WITH A FOLLOWING 'hina' CLAUSE; CAUSAL 'hina'; INTRODUCING 'RESULT' CLAUSES; Implications for Teaching New Testament Greek; Concluding Comments and Future Research.

About the Author :
Margaret G. Sim is an International Translation Consultant with SIL and has been lecturing in New Testament at Africa International University since 1992. Margaret G. Sim is an International Translation Consultant with SIL and has been lecturing in New Testament at Africa International University since 1992.

Review :
"This timely and fascinating study is of interest, not only to biblical scholars, but also to those interested in linguistic theory. Margaret Sim's original study of the 'purpose' marker 'hina' utilises the notion of metarepresentation, familiar from Relevance Theory, to provide new insight into the interpretation of certain key texts in the Gospels. In so doing, she shows how the ideas of theoretical pragmatics can be brought to bear on the study of other fields to enable new and exciting perspectives to be opened up on difficult problems of translation and interpretation." --Ronnie Cann, University of Edinburgh "A model dissertation accounting for an important, long-ignored question. Literary and non-literary extra-biblical sources have been considered and the perspective is diachronic, distinguishing earlier and later usage from that of the New Testament. It is grounded in linguistic theory but free of jargon and intelligible to those not trained in Linguistics." --Carl W. Conrad, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri "This is a major, innovative thesis in which insights from linguistic study (Relevance Theory) are used to free our understanding of the Greek particle 'hina' from the shackles of a fixed lexical meaning to one that is based on the communicator's intention, thus widening its scope from the traditional translation as 'in order that' (purpose). The implications of this carefully argued monograph for the interpretation of theological texts in the New Testament, especially those that are generally assumed to deal with divine purposes, are highly significant." --I. Howard Marshall, University of Aberdeen