Statistical Determination of Genre in Biblical Hebrew - Institute for ...

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632 Steven W. Boydderived from the relative frequency of preterites observed in the joint-sampleclassifies texts according to genre no better than chance classification,was tested against the alternative hypothesis H 1, that the model classifiestexts better. This null hypothesis was rejected with p
Evidence for an Historical Reading of Genesis 1:1–2:3 633genre of texts as a prerequisite to correctly interpreting them. Wendland[1994, p. 386] remarks:. . . what are the features that mark a text as being ‘poetic’ as distinct from‘prosaic’ in nature? The distinction between prose and poetry is important,for it affects how the process of interpreting a given text is carried out, forexample, more or less literally, or with greater or lesser emphasis on formalpatterning. 2But how severe are the philological and hermeneutical repercussionsfor genre misidentification?In a Hi and Lois comic strip from a number of years ago, baby Trixieis listening to Hi and Lois having a conversation, which is full of figuresof speech: “hot news,” “bumped into,” “knocking down doors,” “raninto,” “hit me up for a loan” and “my boss chewed me out.” Insensibleto such metaphors she imagines her parents involved in a chain ofviolent encounters [Browne, 1989]. Her utterly erroneous interpretationis more than just humorous and illustrative. When applied to Biblicalhermeneutics, it poignantly teaches us that genre misidentification ofBiblical texts will lead to equally fatuous misunderstanding—but, withfar more serious consequences.Consider the following two texts: Psalm 98:8: “The rivers will claptheir hands. In unison the mountains will sing for joy” and 2 Kings24:10–17:At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came upto Jerusalem and the city was besieged . . . and Jehoiachin king of Judahcame out to the king of Babylon . . . [Nebuchadnezzar] carried off all thetreasures of . . . And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’suncle, king in his place.How should these texts be read? Doubtless, the first text is notsuggesting that rivers and trees literally clap their hands. Such anabsurdity signals the reader that the words of the text comprise thevehicle of a metaphor and, therefore, that the genre of the text ispoetry.On the other hand, the second text is clearly asserting that theBabylonians actually executed a prolonged siege of Jerusalem. Itsgenre is narrative. Even without the independent corroboration of the
Page 1: Chapter 9Statistical Determination
Page 6 and 7: 636 Steven W. Boydan historical rea
Page 8 and 9: 638 Steven W. Boydapproaches this t
Page 10 and 11: 640 Steven W. BoydThe coherence pri
Page 12 and 13: 642 Steven W. Boyd3. Problems of a
Page 14 and 15: 644 Steven W. Boydformat, but the t
Page 16 and 17: 646 Steven W. Boydis too subjective
Page 18 and 19: 648 Steven W. Boydthey are highly s
Page 20 and 21: 650 Steven W. Boydof events is impo
Page 22 and 23: 652 Steven W. BoydThe first questio
Page 24 and 25: 654 Steven W. Boyd0.8037Ratio of Pr
Page 26 and 27: 656 Steven W. Boydensured the stati
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Page 32 and 33: 662 Steven W. BoydAs in Figures 6 a
Page 34 and 35: 664 Steven W. Boydmodel with all B
Page 36 and 37: 666 Steven W. Boydfor a one variabl
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Page 40 and 41: 670 Steven W. Boydpoetry.With this
Page 42 and 43: 672 Steven W. Boydentire population
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Page 46 and 47: 676 Steven W. Boydnot poetry, with
Page 48 and 49: 678 Steven W. BoydAbraham is noted
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684 Steven W. Boydto Ashdod, they
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686 Steven W. Boydthe account of th
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688 Steven W. BoydBalaam tried to c
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690 Steven W. BoydI have given Ar a
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692 Steven W. Boydtruth claim of in
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694 Steven W. Boyd(3) the Samson pe
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696 Steven W. BoydImperfects/Finite
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698 Steven W. BoydAlso, logistic re
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700 Steven W. BoydTable B4. Finite
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702 Steven W. BoydTable B8. Finite
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704 Steven W. Boydcoefficients mode
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706 Steven W. BoydaThis story does
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708 Steven W. BoydTable D5. Chronol
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710 Steven W. BoydTable D6. Functio
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712 Steven W. BoydTable D8. Tempora
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714 Steven W. Boydseventh day, and
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716 Steven W. Boydas a standard for
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718 Steven W. Boydpoetic sensibilit
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720 Steven W. Boydby what precedes
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722 Steven W. Boyd43. Pampel [2000,
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724 Steven W. Boyd57. These were id
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726 Steven W. Boydthe major disjunc
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728 Steven W. Boydpp. 321-334, Zond
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730 Steven W. BoydFokkelman, J. P.,
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732 Steven W. BoydUniversity Press,
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734 Steven W. BoydWeil, G. E., Bibl
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