Historial Context Essay

Word Study Instructions

Philippians 2:1 (NA28)

Εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος, εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί,

Each student will complete a word study on a significant word in their selected passage and write a 400-500-word exegetical essay describing their findings and conclusions. The word study will focus on correct method, sound conclusions, and relevant sources for consultation. The essay should be in 12 point, Times New Roman font. Format per the Turabian guidelines.

Resources for Turabian formatting may be found in the Online Writing Center . Your paper should follow the footnote method of citation.

Follow the guidance below to construct your essay:

1. Select an approved word from your passage for your word study.

2. Work through the Word Study Procedure described on the following pages of this document. Create your own lexical entry based on observing the denotations and connotations of your word in various contexts. You won’t need to turn this in, but it will be useful as a template for the content of your essay.

3. Show that you have investigated the variety of ways and contexts in which your word is used. Describe the various contexts in which your word is used, and then explain what it means in those contexts. Think of this as a description of the main categories proposed in a lexicon entry that you are writing, but please write in paragraph form (unlike lexicon entries).

4. Describe what your word means in the context of your passage. Then consult a few English translations and state which translations best capture the meaning of the word in the context of the passage. Perhaps you will need to propose a new translation.

5. Cite Scripture using parenthetical citation – like this (2 Cor 2:14). You don’t need to cite secondary sources in this exercise, but simply refer to them as needed. For example, “The editors of BDAG proposed a meaning of the verb that does not really seem to exist when the references are examined.”

[See below]

Word Study Procedure

Select a significant word

Some words involve a narrower range of meaning than others, and not every word is equally important for the meaning of a clause, sentence, passage, etc.

For this assignment, you will select one of the pre-approved words from your passage.

Briefly consult a Lexicon such as Strong’s, Friberg, Thayer, or BDAG:

Note the general options available for the word in question. You want to get a general sense of how lexicon editors think your word is used. Keep in mind that these options are not the authoritative categories; they are the observations of the lexicon editors, which may be right or wrong. For the sake of getting into the right mindset, it would be good to assume that all of these lexicons have involved insufficient or problematic consideration of the evidence, which forces you to take everything with a grain of salt and formulate conclusions based on your own examination of that same evidence.

You can access Strong’s lexical entries in the MyWSB app. You will need to search based on the English word in the interlinear or the Strong’s code.

You can also use biblearc.com, which gives you access to the SBL Greek New Testament. You can easily navigate to your selected passage, find the Greek word you are studying, and click open a menu that guides you to Strong’s, Thayer’s lexical entry for the word, the parsing, and further search capabilities. You can also access Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, online here.

You can access an abridged version of the BDAG, The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, in the “Electronic Resources” folder of the “Course Content” area in Blackboard.

a. Read some of the Scripture references listed in the various headings the lexicon entry for this word to get a sense of the categories that the editors have proposed. You want to get a quick “lay of the land” at this point without getting bogged down in the details.

Find references of your word in the breadth of Greek literature from the ancient world [read this section, but skip this step in the assignment]:

Consult Liddell and Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, to see a fuller range of how your word was used in Greek literature. You can access the lexicon here.

This step is not needed for this assignment.

Find references of your word in the Septuagint (LXX):

b. If you are using software to do this, such as biblearc.com, Logos, MyWSB, or Accordance, you will search on all occurrences of the lemma (another term for the lexical form of the word). Note that biblearc.com allows you to search the Greek text of the LXX just by switching from SBL to LXX in the search options.

c. If you do not have this software, you will need to use the following reference work in the Jerry Falwell Library: A Concordance to the Septuagint and the other Greek versions of the Old Testament (including the Apocryphal books). The author/editors are Hatch and Redpath. Its location in the library is BS1122 .H3 1998. Here is a full text version of the e-book on Google Play.

d. As you read each use of your word, try to note the contextual features associated with your word. In what contexts does your word occur, and what does it signify in those contexts? What are the nuances, connotations, and subtle shades of meaning that might be apparent in one use of your word but not another?

Find references of your word in the New Testament:

e. Using a tool such as biblearc.com, Logos, or MyWSB, examine all the occurrences of your word in the NT. Your goal is to get a sense of how the word is used and what other contextual features are present when your word is used. Try to create your own lexicon entry for your word based on this step and step #4 above.

f. If you download the Logos app, you will be able to search for your word in the following manner:

i. Add the free SBLGNT (Society of Biblical Literature Greek New Testament) to your library.

ii. Find your word and then click on it. Select the form of your word that has “Lemma” written next to it, then choose “Search this version.” That should pull up all occurrences of your word in the New Testament.

Consult the BDAG Lexicon or the Abridged BDAG Lexicon if you cannot access the full version:

g. You can access an abridged version of the BDAG, The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, in the “Electronic Resources” folder of the “Course Content” area in Blackboard. This is sufficient for this assignment unless you already have access to the full BDAG elsewhere.

h. Here is the info for the full version of the printed copy in the library: A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature. Danker, Frederick W. Library call number PA881 .B38 2000.

i. Compare the lexicon entry with the categories proposed in Strong’s and Thayer. Also compare the categories to your notes about how the word is used and the contextual features associated with the word. See whether BDAG editors classify your word differently than you do.

Consult an Exegetical Dictionary

Consult NIDNTTE:

You can access this in the “Electronic Resources” folder of the “Course Content” area in Blackboard.

New International dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Edited by Brown. Second Edition edited by Silva. Library call number is BS2312 .N48 2014.

This and the source below will be more extensive than a lexicon such as BDAG. Therefore, you should note the categories proposed by the editors, but also note their descriptions of the contextual features associated with each use of the word.

Baltz and Schneider Exegetical Dictionary:

This is a similar resource to the above.

Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider. Library call number BS2312 .E913 1990.

j. Note the contextual features associated with each use of the word, but also the development of the word’s use through time (diachronic analysis). Also note how the word is used in Jewish and Christian literature in comparison with how it is used in classical literature.

Formulate conclusions:

k. Describe the various contextual features associate with your word, and how different contexts lead to different uses of your word (or different meanings of your word).

l. Compare the context of your selected passage with the various contexts that you came across in your research. The context should lead you to a conclusion about how the author uses the Greek word.

m. Propose a translation of your word and then describe what your word means in the context of the passage.

Requirements for the Word Study assignment:

n. Word count: 400-500 words in 12-point Times New Roman font.

o. Show that you have investigated the variety of ways and contexts in which your word is used. Describe the various contexts in which your word is used, and then explain what it means in those contexts. Think of this as a description of the main categories proposed in a lexicon entry that you are writing, but please write in paragraph form (unlike lexicon entries).

p. Describe what your word means in the context of your passage. Then consult a few English translations and state which translation best captures the meaning of the word in the context of the passage. Perhaps you will need to propose a new translation.

q. Cite Scripture using parenthetical citation – like this (2 Cor 2:14). You don’t need to cite secondary sources in this exercise, but simply refer to them as needed. For example, “The editors of BDAG proposed a meaning of the verb that does not really seem to exist when the references are examined.”