Glossary

HUM 3223: The Bible as Literature

Dr. James R. Adair

Akkadian
East Semitic language, comprising Assyrian and Babylonian, and written in syllabic cuneiform script.
Allegory
An extended metaphor; a narrative in which details of the story refer to people, object, and events outside the narrative itself.
Antithetical Parallelism
Characteristic verse form in Hebrew poetry, in which the second line restates the idea of the first as a negative (e.g., Ps 119:113).
ʿApiru
Name given by Akkadian and other ancient Near Eastern sources in the 2nd millennium B.C.E. to a group of nomadic or semi-nomadic people in the region, who were sometimes described as outlaws or mercenaries. The name is probably connected with the word "Hebrew."
Aramaic
Northwest Semitic language, widely spoken throughout the ancient Near East and serving as the lingua franca during much of the first millennium B.C.E. Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic.
Archetype - see Jungian archetype
B.C.E.
Before the Common Era (equivalent to B.C.).
C.E.
Common Era (equivalent to A.D.).
Central Prophet
Prophets who were part of the ruling establishment, concerned with maintaining established social order and regulating the pace of social change.
Chiastic
Organizational pattern in a text that follows an ABBA, ABCBA, ABCDCBA, or similar structure.
Conscientize
To have one's conscience or moral center challenged, especially by exposure to people who suffer from socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, or other forms of persecution.
Concubinage
Family relationship between a man and a woman in which the woman (the concubine) has a lower social status than the man and thus is inferior socially and legally to the man's wife or wives.
Covenant
Legally binding agreement (often recorded in writing) between two parties, including such items as conditions, consequences for breaking the conditions, witnesses, blessings & curses.
Differentiated Afterlife
Concept of the afterlife in which the good/saved go to a place of bliss (heaven) and the wicked/lost to a place of suffering (hell). Among Jews, this concept arose in the Second Temple Period, probably as a result of contact with Zoroastrianism, which held a similar doctrine.
Deuteronomistic History
The books Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, considered as a single editorial unit with a common perspective: prophetic, pro-monarchy, pro-Judah/anti-Israel.
Diatessaron
Harmony of the gospels composed by Tatian in the second century, in either Syriac or Greek. It was translated into many different languages, including Syriac, Armenian, Arabic, Persian, Middle Dutch, and Old Saxon, among many others. It served as the gospel portion of the New Testament for the Syriac-speaking church for at least three centuries, before being replaced by the four separate gospels. The name Diatessaron means "through the four (gospels"."
Dittography
The accidental duplication of one or more letters or words when copying a text.
Double entendre
A word or phrase with double (or multiple) meaning, characteristic of the Gospel of John.
DSS
Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of writings found in the Judaean desert beginning in 1947.
Eschatology
The study of the last days or end of time. Eschatological: of or dealing with the last days or end of time, as in eschatological prophecy.
Etiology
A narrative that purports to give an explanation for a situation or name that exists at the time of the narrator. Example: origin of the names Esau and Jacob in Gen 25:25-26.
Excess Labor
Difference between what a manual laborer is paid and what the product the laborer produced is sold for, according to Marxist analysis.
Exemplar
The manuscript from which another manuscript was copied. The terms refers to the manuscript that was the immediate source of the current manuscript and thus differs from the term Vorlage, which can refer to a manuscript several generations behind the manuscript in question.
Expiation
The act of covering, wiping away, or otherwise eliminating sin (including ritual impurity) and its effects.
First Testament
Another name for the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, preferred by some scholars because it doesn't imply that its contents have been supplanted by another set of writings (the New Testament), and it doesn't privilege one particular form of the text and canon (the Hebrew text and canon).
Genre
A distinctive type or category of literary composition. Examples: law, history, short story, epic.
Haplography
The accidental omission of one or more letters or words when copying a text.
Intertextuality
The interrelationship among texts and their influence on one another and/or on the reader of the various texts.
Jungian archetype
Transcendent, universal images within a narrative.
Linear Genealogy
Style of genealogy that traces the descendants of a single sibling within each generation; also called vertical genealogy.
Linear Genealogy
Style of genealogy that traces the descendants of a single sibling within each generation; also called vertical genealogy.
Logos
Greek word for "word" or "reason"; used in Platonic & Stoic philosophy to refer to the organizing principle of the universe, and in the Gospel of John to refer to Jesus as God's instrument in creation.
LXX
Septuagint (abbreviation from Roman numeral for seventy), the Old Greek translation of the Old Testament. Although technically the term applies only to the translation of the Pentateuch, it is widely used in a more general sense to include the Old Greek translation of other books as well.
Messiah
An anointed person, especially a king or priest; "the messiah" in ancient Israel refered to the king, and in later Judaism it referred to a future Davidic king expected to deliver the Jewish people; Christians identify Jesus as the messiah.
Messianic Secret
Idea that the reason Jesus was not widely recognized as messiah at the time of his death was because Jesus had commanded people and spirits who recognized his true nature not to reveal it; a literary device.
Moral Cause and Effect Universe
Idea that "what goes around comes around," so that the wicked are punished in this life and the righteous are rewarded; also called the doctrine of retribution.
MT
Masoretic Text, an official Jewish text of the Old Testament, in Hebrew and Aramaic, finalized in the Middle Ages.
Multiple Literary Editions
Biblical books that exist in two or more significantly different forms, indicating distinctly different editions of the text (e.g., Daniel in MT and LXX, Eshter in MT and LXX, Acts in the Alexandrian and Western text-types).
Myth
A narrative, often traditional, involving the interaction between humans and divine beings, often set in the ancient past or a primeval period.
Nero redivivus
Legend that originated shortly after Nero's death that said Nero had escaped and would soon march back into Rome at the head of a huge army from the East.
Parablepsis
A copyist's accidental omission of a section of text caused by the eye skipping from a word earlier in the text to the same or similar word later in the text, resulting in the intervening section being omitted.
Paronomasia
A play on words; e.g., a pun.
Parousia
Greek term for the return of Christ.
Pastoral Epistles
1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, so-called because large parts of the letters address pastoral concerns.
Pax Romana
The "peace of Rome," a phrase used to exhibit Roman pride in the safety and prosperity of the Empire.
Pentateuch
The first five books of the Bible.
Pentecost
Jewish feast that occurred fifty days after Passover; the day on which the Holy Spirit descended on the church, according to the book of Acts.
Pericope
A discrete unit of text that is complete in some sense and has an identifiable start and finish.
Peripheral Prophet
Prophets who were outside the ruling establishment, concerned with advancing the views of their own support group and improving the group's social status, and generally in favor of increasing the pace of social change.
Peshitta
Syriac translation of the Bible.
Q
From the German Quelle, or "source," the document that many scholars believe lies behind the numerous, extensive agreements of Matthew and Luke that are not shared with Mark.
Resumption
Literary device in which a narrative repeats the phrasing, or even a pericope, from an earlier narrative as a way of tying the two narratives together.
Sanctum
A holy place or object.
Satan
As a common noun (the satan), in Jewish thought, a member of the heavenly council whose role is to be an adversary or prosecuting attorney to a human being or to humanity in general. As a proper noun (Satan), in Jewish and Christian thought, a fallen angel who epitomizes evil, hence the alternate titles the devil (i.e., the slanderer) and the evil one.
Scriptorium
A place where professional scribes copied texts. Biblical texts were often copied by monks in monasteries.
Segmented Genealogy
Style of genealogy that traces the descendants of more than one sibling in a family; also called horizontal genealogy.
Semitic Languages
Subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic language family, historically centered in the Middle East and North Africa. Languages may be classified as East Semitic (Akkadian), South Semitic (Arabic, Ethiopic, Old South Arabic), and Northwest Semitic (Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Canaanite, Moabite, Ammonite, Phoenician).
Sheol
Abode of the dead in Hebrew and early Jewish thought, characterized by darkness and the absence of God.
Short Story
Brief, fictional narrative, typically (though not always) following this patern: introduction, rising action, climax, falling action (denoument), conclusion.
Sitz im Leben
German for "situation in life" or "life setting"; used in form criticism to identify the social setting in which a particular genre was used (e.g., hymns in temple worship, prophetic oracle in the city gate).
Samaritan
Descendants of Israelites from the Northern Kingdom who lived in the land of Israel, primarily in the region north of Judea.
SP
Samaritan Pentateuch, the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch (Torah)
Stich
A line of poetry.
Subversive Wisdom
Approach to living that challenges the notion of a moral cause and effect universe.
Synonymous Parallelism
Characteristic verse form in Hebrew poetry, in which the second line repeats the idea of the first line (e.g., Ps 2:1).
Synoptic Gospels
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which tell the story of Jesus following the same general narrative sequence and with many of the same words, phrases, and even sentences.
Synthetic Parallelism
Characteristic verse form in Hebrew poetry, in which the second line continues the idea of the first (e.g., Song 1:2).
Syriac
Language of Syria, a form of late Aramaic. The Syriac language was written in a cursive script, which was later used as the basis for writing Arabic.
Tanakh
Tanakh (from Hebrew words for Law [Torah], Prophets [Nevi'im], Writings [Kethuvim]), the Jewish Bible.
Targum
Aramaic paraphrase of a portion of the Old Testament.
Text-type
A form of the text, represented by many witnesses, that share certain common characteristics. A text-type is the largest grouping of witnesses (a smaller grouping is called a family).
Theodicy
Examination of the philosophical/theological problem of the existence of an all-powerful, good God in a world where the innocent suffer; sometimes called the problem of evil.
Theophany
Appearance of a god or divine being.
Torah
The Hebrew word for "law" or "instruction"; used to refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (a.k.a. the Pentateuch), and by extension to the entire Hebrew Bible.
Traditional Wisdom
Approach to living that accepts the notion of a moral cause and effect universe.
Transfiguration
Pericope in the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus, after ascending a mountain, is transformed into a glorious, glowing figure before the eyes of three of his disciples.
Ugaritic
Ancient Semitic language (Canaanite) spoken in northern Palestine and southern Syria.
Variant
A difference of one or more letters between two copies of the same work.
Vorlage
German word meaning the text that was copied by a scribe or translated by a translator. The word literally means the text that "lies before" the reader. The term can refer to a text that lay several generations before the manuscript in question, and thus differs from exemplar, which refers to the manuscript from which another manuscript was immediately copied.
Vulgate
Latin version of the Bible, translated by Jerome in 5th century C.E.
Wisdom