Papers Presented at Academic Conferences
Note: Each of these papers are copyright 2005-2008 by Richard W. Brannan. They are placed here for personal use or for citation purposes in other scholarly writing. For republishing information, please contact Rick via email. Address info is on my blog, right column, look for the email link.
2008
2008 National Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society
- Paper: The Discourse Function of αλλα in Non-Negative Contexts
- Abstract: In a paper presented to the ETS in November 2007, Dr. Steven Runge discussed the use of the conjunction αλλα in negative Counterpoint-Point Sets ("Teaching Them What NOT To Do: The Nuances of Negation in the Greek New Testament"). The basic pattern is that of an exceptive ου or μη clause followed by a clause introduced by αλλα; the effect in English translation is "not ... but ...".
While most of the instances of αλλα in the Greek New Testament occur in negative Counterpoint-Point sets, this does not account for all instances of αλλα. What is happening with αλλα in these other contexts? Is the discourse function of αλλα in these contexts similar, or is there something different going on?
Instances of αλλα in the Greek New Testament in non-negative contexts will be examined with the hope of further describing the function of αλλα within the discourse. Additionally, standard Greek grammars will be mined for further insight into the function of αλλα, as will the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The goal is not to isolate additional "senses" or "classes" of αλλα, but, building upon Runge's previous work, the goal is to examine further instances of αλλα in differing contexts to contribute toward a more precise overall understanding of the general function of αλλα within the discourse.
BibleTech 2008 Bible Technologies Conference
- Paper: Locating New Testament Cross-References: Some Stragegies
- Handout: Conference Handout
- Abstract: Marginal cross-references have long been a feature of several Bibles in print. Each of the myriad versions has some edition with “marginal cross-references” or “center-column cross-references”. Yet electronic editions, apart from those reproducing data available in printed editions, have not done a good job of complementing the text with relevant cross-references. Most electronic editions of Bibles are centered on the words of the text and not its presentation or on supplying ancillary data to help in the study of the text.
2007
2007 National Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society
- Paper: Richard Bauckham and Eyewitness Testimony: Does His Narrative Device Occur Outside of the Synoptics?
- Note: This is a slightly revised version of the paper presented at the 2007 Northwest Regional Meeting of the ETS. This paper, however, contains an extended appendix (9 pages) dealing with locating patterns of material in the Synoptics+Acts.
- Abstract: A recent book by Richard Bauckham (Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
 ) describes Marcan usage of something he calls the "plural to singular narrative device" (Bauckham 156-157). He defines the device using syntactic terminology: "a plural verb ... without an explicit subject is used to describe the movements of Jesus and his disciples, followed immediately by a singular verb or pronoun referring to Jesus alone" (Bauckham 156-157). Using this device, Bauckham posits Mark's usage of Peter's eyewitness testimony as underlying source for 21 different movements of Jesus (e.g. Mk 1.21).
Bauckham's exploration of this narrative device is limited to the synoptic gospels. But does the device occur elsewhere? This paper argues that if such a thing as the plural-to-singular narrative device exists, then Ac 18.19 should be considered an additional Lucan instance of the device.
2007 Northwest Regional Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society
- Paper: From the Mouth of Paul? Acts 18.18-23 as Eyewitness Testimony
- Abstract: Paul's initial journey to Ephesus, mentioned in Acts 18.18-23, has been dismissed in some critical commentaries (e.g. Conzelmann's Hermeneia volume) as a Lucan insertion with no historical basis. Other critical commentaries (e.g. C.K. Barrett's ICC volume) simply dismiss Conzelmann's suggestion without fully refuting it.
A recent book by Richard Bauckham (Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, Eerdmans 2006) describes Marcan usage of something he calls the “plural to singular narrative device” (Bauckham 156-157). He defines the device using syntactic terminology: “a plural verb ... without an explicit subject is used to describe the movements of Jesus and his disciples, followed immediately by a singular verb or pronoun referring to Jesus alone” (Bauckham 156-157). Using this device, Bauckham posits Mark's usage of Peter's eyewitness testimony as underlying source for 21 different movements of Jesus (e.g. Mk 1.21).
The structure and context of Acts 18.19 fit within Bauckham's syntactic description. This exploratory paper proposes that Acts 18.19 be seen as an instance of the plural-to-singular narrative device, pointing to eyewitness testimony from Paul as basis of the short episode in Acts 18.18-23. If this analysis holds, this paper provides substance by which to dismiss the suggestion that the text is a Lucan insertion with no historical basis.
2006
2006 National Conference of the Evangelical Theological Society
- Paper: Subjects and Predicates and Complements, Oh My! Searching the New Testament with Sensitivity to Syntax
- Conference Handout
- Abstract: Logos Bible Software have implemented an edition of the OpenText.org Syntactically Annotated Greek New Testament. One facet of OpenText.org's work isolates clause boundaries. Within each clause, subjects, predicators, complements and adjuncts are identified. This enables searching of the Greek New Testament with sensitivity to clause-level criteria. This advance raises certain questions: How should syntactic annotation be used? What sorts of things can be searched for?
This paper examines different sorts of searches that can be pursued from the starting point of a word. Questions like "When is [word] used as a subject?" or "What verbs are used when [word] is a subject?" will be examined and discussed.
2006 National Conference of the Society of Biblical Literature
- Paper: Modifiers in the Pastoral Epistles: Insight for Questions of Style?
- Conference Handout
- Program Unit: Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics
- Abstract: OpenText.org have completed a preliminary syntactic analysis of the Greek New Testament. One level of their analysis is the Word Group level. A word group is a group of words that consists of, at minimum, a head term. It also contains any terms that modify the head term and additionally specifies the type of modification as that of definer, qualifier, relator or specifier.
Stylistic analysis has been largely bound to examining criteria such as word usage and morphology along with perhaps sentence length or co-occurring words. The OpenText.org Word Group Analysis allows for stylistic analysis of the corpus at a different level. Does modifier usage offer any insight for comparative studies of the Pastoral Epistles and the generally accepted Paulines?
This paper examines modifier usage inside of epistolary prescripts in epistles traditionally attributed to Paul. The goal is to show that components of epistolary prescripts use modification for different purposes. This conclusion is well known, but by reaching the conclusion using only the OpenText.org Word Group Analysis, the subsequent value of the OpenText.org annotation for the analysis of style becomes evident.
- Paper: Syntax Searching and Epistolary Form Criticism
- Conference Handout
- Program Unit: Syntactically-Tagged Databases of the Greek NT: Overview & Training Seminar
- Abstract: This paper works through examples of proposed epistolary forms, searching for suggested form structure using the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament as primary corpus. The following forms will be examined:
- Disclosure Form
- Greeting Form
- Request/Petition Form
- Joy Expression
- Charge Form
Will a syntactically analyzed Greek New Testament such as the OpenText.org Syntactically Analyzed Greek New Testament provide assistance in defining and isolating potential instances of forms in the New Testament?
2005
2005 National Conference of the Evangelical Theological Society
2005 National Conference of the Society of Biblical Literature
- Paper: Biblioblog Problems and Solutions: PastoralEpistles.com as a Sandbox
- Section: Computer Assisted Research (CARG)
- Conference Handout
- Abstract: Biblioblogs have come to serve a valuable role in the academic community: they disseminate information throughout the academy while serving to humanize their authors. But the information produced by bibliobloggers, while searchable via Google and able to be displayed upon request, is locked in an environment that stores content as a sort of lowest common denominator. Salient bits of information, ranging from discussions of particular Biblical passages to impromptu book reviews, are unable to be easily retrieved unless one happens to fortuitously stumble upon them. Most biblioblog content is first-rate, but the blogging software that typically generates and archives the content could be better. This paper further defines some of these “lowest common denominator” problems and explores methodology used by PastoralEpistles.com to address them.
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