Communication and Exegesis: Linguistics as an aid to New Testament Interpretation

'Communication and Exegesis' helps to demystify communication theory in such a way as to encourage biblical scholars and students to open their minds to new ideas about how humans attempt to communicate with one another. It shows how much exegesis in intuitive and gives a theoretical account and support for the processes which we engage in as we attempt to analyze a text. Contextual presuppositions and biases are also considered and factored into the interpretive process. By using Relevance Theory consistently, rather than employing the eclectic method favored by some scholars who have dabbled in one linguistic theory or another, the book provides a sound theoretical basis on which to build interpretation of text without demanding a new range of competencies from the reader. 'Communication and Exegesis' does not claim to solve all problems but rather to encourage readers to develop a keener awareness of what communication means. Cognitive approaches are now in the forefront of both anthropological and linguistic studies, and have the potential to be extremely beneficial to biblical studies by opening up new areas for research and reinvestigating some issues perceived as problems in the past.