Andrews Seminary Student Receives Award for Best 研究生 Student Paper at Regional Society of Biblical Literature Gathering

Jonatas费雷拉, PhD student in the 基督复临安息日会 Theological Seminary New Testament Department, received the 研究生 Student Paper Award at the 2020 Midwest Region Society of Biblical Literature, 是在圣玛丽学院举行的, 巴黎圣母院, 印第安纳州. 费雷拉的论文题目是, “Exegeting Phrase-Level Parataxis as a Grammatic Unit: Colossians 2:16 for a Test Case.” The Midwest region of the Society of Biblical Literature includes Illinois, 密歇根, 威斯康辛州, 印第安纳州, 俄亥俄州, 肯塔基州, 和爱荷华州. 包括在这个地区, 包括芝加哥, are many universities and seminaries having graduate programs in theological and biblical studies. Some of these schools are well known as among the best in the United States in these areas.

The primary objective of the article was to call the attention of Greek grammarians to “phrase-level parataxis,” a category of Greek language largely ignored by mainstream Koine textbooks. This is a critical omission because it has a significant impact on exegesis, 解释圣经的过程. 这种语法研究随后应用于歌罗西书2:16. 根据这项研究, it is important for grammars and lexicons of Greek to incorporate this structure more explicitly in their textbooks.

Ferreira’s research contributes to understanding of Greek grammar in general and Colossians 2:16 in particular. Sunday-keeping Christians have used this verse to show that observance of the seventh-day Sabbath is no longer necessary for Christians. Many 基督复临安息日会s have tried to avoid that conclusion by unconvincingly arguing that “Sabbaths” in this verse means “ceremonial sabbaths,不包括第七日安息日. Now Ferreira has convincingly demonstrated from the syntactic structure of Colossians 2:16 that it refers to lack of an ongoing obligation to perform certain religious activities involving eating and drinking that were done on seventh-day Sabbaths, without repealing the basic Sabbath requirement for rest from work.

Ferreira shares that his interpretation of Col 2:16 was both novel and historical. “这一论点在现代解释史上是新的. 然而, the study highlights several early texts that appear to read the passage in this distinctive way. 对我来说, this interpretation seems to be a long-lost understanding of this passage in the West, and I propose to recuperate it in light of the grammatical structure within which it pertains,他说. 关于本研究的影响, 费雷拉说, “The updated translation makes an important shift in understanding of sacred times in the New Testament period."

三位教授——汤姆·谢泼德, 罗伊Gane, and Cedric Vine—as well as a fellow PhD student at Andrews—Dominic Bornand—were important mentors as Ferreira developed his argument. Ferreira asserts that “this article begun as a term paper for a class under Dr. Shepherd, and he was the first professor to tell me the thesis held some promise.“博南德在这个过程中是一个至关重要的球员, 因为他从一开始就支持这项研究, making a key correction to the argument that changed the entire paper thereafter. Vine contributed by recommending a stronger organization of the paper’s arguments. Additionally, professor Gane was decisive for the article’s development. 费雷拉博士分享道:“在听到论文后. Gane立刻意识到它的潜力. He encouraged me to submit this thesis for presentation at SBL and the Best Student Paper Competition. He is the faculty member who most engaged with the process of writing, 这需要很长一段时间.”

写这篇文章不是一件顺利或容易的事. 费雷拉谦虚地说，反馈有时令人沮丧. 尽管如此，他还是坚持他的推理路线. 费雷拉州, “我内心深信, 如果表达得当, this was a strong thesis and one which might expand the way we do New Testament exegesis. The implications were great for understanding many other paratactic passages of the New Testament, 就像歌罗西书2:16的问题一样. 另外,博士. Gane预见到了我索赔的轨迹. He kept me focused only in the articulation of the thesis and let the results follow.”

据博士说. Gane, “Jonatas, 我们有理由为他感到骄傲, 有助于肯定我们对神学院博士课程质量的信心.D. 为神的事工和神的荣耀.最后，费雷拉和他的同事. 游戏是正确的, with the paper receiving critical validation from acknowledged scholars in the field.

摘要

While textbooks of Greek explore grammar at phrase level—prepositional, adverbial, infinitive, et al.—there is currently no focused description of the paratactic phrase. This article tackles this deficiency and introduces a theoretical model for exegeting phrase parataxis as a distinct category of biblical Greek. The absence of an independent classification for phrase-level parataxis hinges largely on 两个 motives: one, parataxis as a linguistic structure void of syntax proper—as opposed to hypotactic writing where subordination and hierarchy inform meaning—and, 两个, phrase parataxis as understood to be a rhetorical unit of language (not grammatic). 不过, 超过2的分析,500 phrases of intertestamental Greek yields consistent principles of application sufficient to warrant phrase parataxis as a distinct category of exploration carrying important grammatic and semantic outcomes. 歌罗西书2:16是一个测试案例. 假定为意合, the passage translates the running sentence “Let no one judge you in matter of eating and drinking, 总而言之, 在宴会的某一份中, 月朔或安息日.” Rendering Col 2:16 as a paratactic unit challenges the centennial exegetical tradition that interprets the sentence as bipartite. The theoretical model proposed in this article informs over 170 similar structures in the New Testament alone.