Learning the Language of Scripture

Mark Randall James, Ph.D. (2015), University of Virginia, is an independent scholar. He was Visiting Professor of Religion at Colgate University in 2020. He has published essays on Origen, pragmatism, and scriptural interpretation, and he co-edited Signs of Salvation (2020).

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations



Introduction

 1 The Problem of Hermeneutic Arbitrariness

 2 Origen and Arbitrariness

 3 Method: Descriptive Logic

 4 Learning the Language of Scripture



1 Origen and Stoic Logic

 1 Stoic Philosophy of Language

 2 Origen on Language and Logic

 3 Conclusion



2 From Lexis to Logos

 1 The Pedagogy of the Logos

 2 Elements of the Movement from Lexis to Logos

 3 Conclusion



3 The Pragmatics of Scriptural Utterances

 1 Deixis

 2 Implicature

 3 Conclusion



4 The Grammar of Scriptural Language

 1 Inquiry and Vagueness

 2 Habits of Scripture

 3 Invention

 4 Conclusion



5 The Deification of Discourse

 1 Bold Speech

 2 Parrhesia and Deification

 3 Conclusion



6 Origenism as Pragmatism: A Sketch of a Sapiential Hermeneutic

 1 Wisdom

 2 Scripture and Philosophy

 3 Sapiential Interpretation

 4 Towards a Sapiential Theology of Scripture

Works Cited

Index of Citations

Index of Names and Subjects