For my post-graduate studies I am writing on the definition of holy, but as part of that I have to present my method for discovering the meaning of holy in the Bible. This turns out to be more critical than might be imagined. Like a car's suspension that effects the outcome in terms of a car's ride, so the method for defining a word can effect the outcome in terms of the definition arrived at by myself or anyone else. So what is my method?
In discussing methods to use for my thesis, I found that the discussion got very complicated. It was too complicated for anyone who does not have my educational background. But it also got too complicated for those who have my level of education. There simply was not a lot of common ground between different methods and I felt that any choice would limit who would read what I had to say, because of the divisions over the method to use. So I needed something better.
I think I have found a better method. I want to first state it, then where I found it and then I will demonstrate some of its usefulness with regard to defining holy in a beginning way. The method consists of five steps (not necessarily locked into this order): 1) total, 2) translate, 3) teach, 4) train and 5) transfer.
I found this method in Nehemiah 8. In Nehemiah 8:1-7, I find the idea of 1) total - "all" the people and "the book" of the law of Moses." The total of the people who could understand and the total of the book of the Law. Neither part of the process was less than the total of it. In Nehemiah 8:8, I find the keys to 2) translating - clarity and meaning. Something is clear when it is one rather than many. Many causes confusion. Imagine many voices saying a differen word in the same room. Now imagine everyone in unison saying one word. A one to one correspondence in translating is clearest, if it is possible. Moving from a dead language, like Hebrew was in Nehemiah, to a livinglanguage like Aramaic gave meaning in translation. In Nehemiah 8:7, 8:9-12, I find 3) teaching in the idea of "instruct" which I have understood as teaching to keep a pattern of T's going for memory's sake. I also think it is important to understand teachers as skilled in recognizing a time of joy and a time of sorrow. They are wise to time and place. In Nehemiah 8:13-17, I see 4) training because the people's inability to understand is replaced by their ability to understand. Understanding is an action, so it requires training. We see many actions performed by the people in this section that reflect their ability to undrestand. Finally, in Nehemiah 8:18, I see 5) transfer because they did things in accordance with regulation. It is important with regulations to transfer the same things rather than different things. Witness as an example the difficult case of circumcision in the New Testament in relationship to Gentiles.
So to communicate across barriers effectively, like in this example in Nehemiah, a method needs to involve not just a few or parts of a book, but the total of both. A method also needs to give clarity through keeping things simple or singular and through using a live language that has meaning. A method needs through instruction to make a bad situation better like a move from weeping to joy as appropriate for the time. A method also needs to replace inability to understand with ability through training. Finally, it must transfer the things in accordance with regulations, not extraneous things nor with things left out.
Let's look at this method's usefulness when dealing with defining holy. The implications for defining holy are many, but here I would like to scratch the surface.
First, I think it is unfortunate that many of the people involved in defining holy are left out of the discussion. Most writers on the topic do not think it is important to address what the total of God's people think on this word. They especially don't address the thoughts of many in church history, even though they are people who had the ability to understand. They do not take seriously those who would disagree with them. They also limit the contexts from which they define the word. Actually parallel passages where the word is used and close synonyms are found in separate parts of the Law are significant. So to limit oneself to just Deuteronomy or just the immediate context can be misleading.
Second, I think it is unfortunate that in the argument among translators and translations over form and meaning, few stopped to take seriously the balanced counsel of Nehemiah 8:8. We need to consider not just meaningfulness, but also clarity. Often meaning is greatly enhanced through a meaning to meaning translation, but at the expense of clarity. I think it is possible to keep a balance. In the case of holy, clarity has been compromised in the past by the use of many words for what is one word in Hebrew and one word to translate it from Hebrew into Greek. It is expressed not just through holy or holiness, but also through sancification, sanctify, saint, holy one, hallow, wholly, consecrate and set apart. It is hardly clear to the average reader that these all express the same basic word in both Hebrew or Greek. Also holy, if it does mean set apart should be replaced, since it does not carry meaningfulness like set apart. If on the other hand it means whole, it coud be retained because the close relationship is visible through their respective similar spellings.
Third, I think it is important to understand that teaching is important in terms of a change of place and time. Holy was not hard to understand in its own day. It is a change in time and place that partly explains the possibility of misunderstanding it in our day. These issues need to be addressed like Nehemiah and the others did, so that the opposite understanding does not occur on this word. Should we maybe be more joyful than sorrowful when we hear this word?
Fourth, I think it is important to train people in the method of understanding. We must replace the inability to understand with the ability. The test of our training is the ease with which someone can perform a task before or after training. Training does not mean that everything is equally easy. It does mean that after training, a task should be easier rather than harder. Nehemiah 8 should be heavily mined for its insights on understanding. This is only a beginning in what I am writing now.
Fifth, I think we need to be sure we are transferring the right things. Each word refers to a referent and while our translation of words is significant, so is the issue of whether the things transferred are the same as the things in the Word of God. Holy may be the translation, but does it refer to the transfer of wholeness into our lives or does it refer to the separateness of our lives from those who are sinners? Which fits in accord with God's regulations? Have we transferred the right things. One of my professors referred to this as transculturation, something different from just translation.
These are the tips of the iceberg in terms of implications. Over time, I will develop each of these separately more in-depth along with showing other angles on the vital topic of what holy means. I am convinced it must mean one of two things. Either holy means whole or it means separate. This method from Nehemiah 8 will help me and you sort this out. We face barriers to understanding holy, but so did they face barriers to understanding in their time. These barriers can be overcome through 1) total, 2) translate, 3) teach, 4) train and 5) transfer.
In Christ,
Pastor Jon
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Holy: Understanding it Better in Terms of Wholistic Communication
I want to challenge a tendency of method in defining holy. It is that we assume that our method in defining the word holy is entirely sound, healthy or wholesome. Each of these descriptions, by the way, are translations for the same word in the book of Titus. I think that before we claim to have a sound method, we need to insure that is it comprehensive or that it is wholesome.
Wholesome or wholistic (to sometimes be distinguished from holistic) communication means looking at holy from four major angles of method: 1) logical, 2) rhetorical, 3) grammatical and 4) scientific. One of the problems is that these issues are often not addressed, because of the atomistic tendency of some of the educational world and some of communication theory. What I mean by atomistic is that they keep delving into smaller and smaller details of parts rather than rising to the level of looking at things in terms of the larger whole. This is like looking at the parts of bikes without also examining a fully assembled bike and the method of using it or its usefulness and benefit as a whole.
In other words, holy is often examined through just one of these four angles or some small part of a angle, rather than addressing it through all four angles. Each of these has to do with the method used to determine the meaning or definition of holy. It is not just a matter of the word holy itself, but also the method we use to determine its meaning.
This particular piece of writing will look at the things we learn in the classrom by studying more than by the things we learn in daily life through the real world. This is because we are looking at things called words that suit a classroom setting pretty well. I will look at some of the starting points for our methods of defining words. I will not in this blog attempt to give evidence or proof so much as lay out problems and potential solutions. What I hope to accomplish is to lay out at a higher level where the problems and potential solutions for method are located. .
Logically, there is a mathematical inconsistency between rhetoric and grammar that is not resolved. You could say that between the basic classical foundations of learning; grammar, logic and rhetoric, there remains an inconsistency. Rhetoric, in dealing with the larger components of language, recognizes five major parts (or four major parts with one of its aspects functioning as the whole). Grammar on the other hand, in dealing with the smaller components of language, recognizes eight major parts plus the whole of speech with its total of nine (including speech as a whole). Logically, five does not equal nine. This mathematical inconsistency should be resolved. Why five and nine or four and eight? Why are not the larger and smaller parts of communication mathematically parallel with each other? The solution to this inconistency could be through the universal or basic classes of meaning recognized in the literature dealing with semantics. If we can resolve this inconsistency, it would give us a better idea of what class of meaning best fits with the usage of holy in the Bible.
Rhetorically, persuasion is concerned with connecting with others. The problem is that the higher critical views of history have pushed aside taking seriously rhetoric for a number of years. Rhetoric got buried under scepticism about the honesty of persuasion. It as though Plato's sceptical view of rhetoric prevailed once again in history. Notice how the word rhetoric is usually used in our language today in negative sense. So a whole new branch of learning called speech communication was developed with little connection to rhetoric. This caused the insights of rhetoric to be ignored far too often in approaching the Biblical text. What I am finding is that understanding the methods of honest persuasion using rhetoric helps in better understanding the contexts surrounding holy, because now ideas like parallelism in speech seen as legitimate ways to try to communicate in order to persuade. This actually is very critical to understanding the false and true arguments from context for the meaning of holy. Too often context is examined too broadly without any sense of whether there is a connection to the word holy through a method of parallelism or otherwise or whether a word just happens to appear next to holy in a context. There has been too much guessing. This can be solved through better understanding classical and Hebrew rhetoric in its own right.
Grammatically, the problem is that too much of the material written on holiness depends solely on traditional or on structural grammar, for those who still care about rhetoric. Then add to this the problem that people have lost interest in the topic, because of the way it is taught. To many people it bears no relation to how they learned language before they arrive at school. So people fail to see any relevance for it. The traditional (not necessarily the classic) approach largely points to etymology and the structural approach largely points to usage or context. While these are both valuable, they do not measure up to the explanatory power of transformational grammar with its recognition of rules that capture an unending activity of communicating. The technology of transformational grammar must be fully used, even as the technology of the computer should be harnessed for good rather than evil. So the inconsistency of not using the insights of transformational grammar and yet using other technologies like the computer for its advantages needs to be corrected. Grammar also needs to be made relevant so more people care. That may be the greater problem.
Scientifically, the problem is that what I have found to be the greatest insight of linguistics (the study of language) is not being used, when it comes to understanding meaning and how definitions should be written. Whether it be the insights of archaeology and what we have learned about 6th century B.C. grammar in India, or it be the insights on universals because we have such a larger base of languages to examine today as opposed to the classical past or it be the insights into the human brain and how it works in psychology, we need to use natural knowledge to its full explanatory capability alongside of supernatural revelation. Both kinds of revelation should matter. My graduate studies in the area of the philosophy of science taught me a great deal about the importance of natural revelation alongside of supernatural revelation in the Bible. You ignore either one of these sources of revelation or knowledge or what was previously hidden at your peril. The most important insight for me from linguistics has been the core classes of meaning which also have a lot to do with the ability of search engines to work so effectively. Understanding language at a very fundamental level can really set the stage for what the various alternative meanings of holy really mean in terms of actual significance. So the inconsistency of not using the latest insights from linguistics or from the philosophy of science needs to be corrected for the linguistics we are using to be considered soundly scientific.
These four areas make up the wholesome or wholistic approach I would like to see pursued in defining holy. It would help in making sound its definition beyond its current shaky status, regardless of which definition is arrived at through effort. Again, all of this sketch is broad and not in detail. This is all very preliminary to the work that still must be done and is being done. There is a lot more that must be fleshed out for these insights to be seen as truly effective. I hope though that at least I have gotten you thinking in the some new sound directions.
In Christ,
Pastor Jon
Wholesome or wholistic (to sometimes be distinguished from holistic) communication means looking at holy from four major angles of method: 1) logical, 2) rhetorical, 3) grammatical and 4) scientific. One of the problems is that these issues are often not addressed, because of the atomistic tendency of some of the educational world and some of communication theory. What I mean by atomistic is that they keep delving into smaller and smaller details of parts rather than rising to the level of looking at things in terms of the larger whole. This is like looking at the parts of bikes without also examining a fully assembled bike and the method of using it or its usefulness and benefit as a whole.
In other words, holy is often examined through just one of these four angles or some small part of a angle, rather than addressing it through all four angles. Each of these has to do with the method used to determine the meaning or definition of holy. It is not just a matter of the word holy itself, but also the method we use to determine its meaning.
This particular piece of writing will look at the things we learn in the classrom by studying more than by the things we learn in daily life through the real world. This is because we are looking at things called words that suit a classroom setting pretty well. I will look at some of the starting points for our methods of defining words. I will not in this blog attempt to give evidence or proof so much as lay out problems and potential solutions. What I hope to accomplish is to lay out at a higher level where the problems and potential solutions for method are located. .
Logically, there is a mathematical inconsistency between rhetoric and grammar that is not resolved. You could say that between the basic classical foundations of learning; grammar, logic and rhetoric, there remains an inconsistency. Rhetoric, in dealing with the larger components of language, recognizes five major parts (or four major parts with one of its aspects functioning as the whole). Grammar on the other hand, in dealing with the smaller components of language, recognizes eight major parts plus the whole of speech with its total of nine (including speech as a whole). Logically, five does not equal nine. This mathematical inconsistency should be resolved. Why five and nine or four and eight? Why are not the larger and smaller parts of communication mathematically parallel with each other? The solution to this inconistency could be through the universal or basic classes of meaning recognized in the literature dealing with semantics. If we can resolve this inconsistency, it would give us a better idea of what class of meaning best fits with the usage of holy in the Bible.
Rhetorically, persuasion is concerned with connecting with others. The problem is that the higher critical views of history have pushed aside taking seriously rhetoric for a number of years. Rhetoric got buried under scepticism about the honesty of persuasion. It as though Plato's sceptical view of rhetoric prevailed once again in history. Notice how the word rhetoric is usually used in our language today in negative sense. So a whole new branch of learning called speech communication was developed with little connection to rhetoric. This caused the insights of rhetoric to be ignored far too often in approaching the Biblical text. What I am finding is that understanding the methods of honest persuasion using rhetoric helps in better understanding the contexts surrounding holy, because now ideas like parallelism in speech seen as legitimate ways to try to communicate in order to persuade. This actually is very critical to understanding the false and true arguments from context for the meaning of holy. Too often context is examined too broadly without any sense of whether there is a connection to the word holy through a method of parallelism or otherwise or whether a word just happens to appear next to holy in a context. There has been too much guessing. This can be solved through better understanding classical and Hebrew rhetoric in its own right.
Grammatically, the problem is that too much of the material written on holiness depends solely on traditional or on structural grammar, for those who still care about rhetoric. Then add to this the problem that people have lost interest in the topic, because of the way it is taught. To many people it bears no relation to how they learned language before they arrive at school. So people fail to see any relevance for it. The traditional (not necessarily the classic) approach largely points to etymology and the structural approach largely points to usage or context. While these are both valuable, they do not measure up to the explanatory power of transformational grammar with its recognition of rules that capture an unending activity of communicating. The technology of transformational grammar must be fully used, even as the technology of the computer should be harnessed for good rather than evil. So the inconsistency of not using the insights of transformational grammar and yet using other technologies like the computer for its advantages needs to be corrected. Grammar also needs to be made relevant so more people care. That may be the greater problem.
Scientifically, the problem is that what I have found to be the greatest insight of linguistics (the study of language) is not being used, when it comes to understanding meaning and how definitions should be written. Whether it be the insights of archaeology and what we have learned about 6th century B.C. grammar in India, or it be the insights on universals because we have such a larger base of languages to examine today as opposed to the classical past or it be the insights into the human brain and how it works in psychology, we need to use natural knowledge to its full explanatory capability alongside of supernatural revelation. Both kinds of revelation should matter. My graduate studies in the area of the philosophy of science taught me a great deal about the importance of natural revelation alongside of supernatural revelation in the Bible. You ignore either one of these sources of revelation or knowledge or what was previously hidden at your peril. The most important insight for me from linguistics has been the core classes of meaning which also have a lot to do with the ability of search engines to work so effectively. Understanding language at a very fundamental level can really set the stage for what the various alternative meanings of holy really mean in terms of actual significance. So the inconsistency of not using the latest insights from linguistics or from the philosophy of science needs to be corrected for the linguistics we are using to be considered soundly scientific.
These four areas make up the wholesome or wholistic approach I would like to see pursued in defining holy. It would help in making sound its definition beyond its current shaky status, regardless of which definition is arrived at through effort. Again, all of this sketch is broad and not in detail. This is all very preliminary to the work that still must be done and is being done. There is a lot more that must be fleshed out for these insights to be seen as truly effective. I hope though that at least I have gotten you thinking in the some new sound directions.
In Christ,
Pastor Jon
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