Logoprosodic analysis of the Hebrew Scriptures

General introduction

by Prof. Duane L. Christensen
 

This section is devoted to the logoprosodic analysis of the scriptures.

I have been developing logoprosodic analysis since my student days at Harvard University more than 30 years ago, and publishing articles on this topic steadily since 1973.

My early approach is well illustrated in my doctoral dissertation, Transformations of the War Oracle in Old Testament Prophecy (Harvard Dissertations in Religion 3: Scholars Press for Harvard Theological Review, 1975). At that time, I was following the method of syllable counting as practiced by my mentor Frank M. Cross, Jr. and his colleague David Noel Freedman.

My approach has changed significantly since then, and is now based rather on the principle of mora-count and the distribution of syntactic accentual stress units, which are virtually ignored in the work of W. Watson, a "standard work" in the study of Hebrew poetry. For example, please see my 2-volume commentary on Deuteronomy (Word Biblical Commentary: Thomas Nelson, 2001-2002).

My methodology has again changed markedly as I have integrated Casper Labuschagne's principle of numerical composition. The article discussed below, "Theological Reflections on an International Colloquium on Deuteronomy" describes my first encounter with Labuschagne's methodology in the summer of 1983.

My approach to logoprosodic analysis always starts with the biblical text as it is. When that text scans easily with certain words present (such as the word Selah) and only with great difficulty, or not at all, with those words removed, I no longer see the point in removing them. As I've gotten familiar with the Hebrew text, I've gradually became convinced that the headings are in fact integral parts of the psalms they introduce— a fact that can be demonstrated consistently by careful logoprosodic analysis.

Cumulative total word counts generated automatically in my logoprosodic analysis of each psalm, with the headings and words like Selah included, call for more careful reflection on the part of all concerned in the Psalms Project.

The purpose of this website is to bring together several related, but distinct approaches in the study of the biblical text into dialogue with each other. If these separate approaches have validity, they are complementary. My own approach to logoprosodic analysis has been transformed as I have learned how to integrate the principle of numerical composition into it.

Current projects:

Psalms Project (Logoprosodic Analysis)

Twelve Prophets Project (Logoprosodic Analysis)

Other books and articles by Professor Christensen