Abstract
This book aims to introduce readers of the Greek NT to discourse analysis (also known as text linguistics) and the insights that such an approach can bring to the study of this text. While traditional grammar has tended to focus on language at the level of the sentence and below, discourse analysis looks beyond the sentence to the wider context of an utterance—the extra-sentential level—and its function. The book is divided into four parts: Part 1 (Foundations) introduces discourse analysis and surveys connecting prepositions; Part 2 (Forward-Pointing Devices) surveys prominence-marking strategies; Part 3 (Information Structuring Devices) focuses on word order; and Part 4 (Thematic Highlighting Devices) examines ways in which the use of language influences readers’ mental representations of discourse. A short summary at the end of the book provides a tabulation of some 14 distinct discourse devices.
Discourse analysis is an undeniably complex field. However, Runge has produced an extremely lucid and useful introduction. The book does not seek to dispense with earlier or alternative approaches: as Daniel B. Wallace states in his forward, the present volume ‘is a complement to traditional grammars, rather than in competition with them’ (p. xvi). Indeed, Runge begins most chapters by reviewing the ‘conventional’ explanations of a linguistic phenomenon before presenting the ‘discourse’ ones. Runge makes extensive and helpful use of comparison with English discourse devices and offers ample illustrations from the NT (given in both Greek and English). This book is an intelligent guide to a difficult but vitally important approach to our understanding of texts.