Abbreviations; INTRODUCTION; Chapter 1 SOME SEMIOTIC THEORIES; Chapter 2 SPEECH ACTS AND SPEECH BEHAVIOUR; Chapter 3 'WISDOM-LAWS'; Chapter 4 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEGAL DRAFTING; Chapter 5 THE WRITTEN MEDIA OF LAW; Chapter 6 THE TEMPORALITY OF THE LAW; Chapter 7 'POSTULATES' AND VALUES; Chapter 8 LAW'S INTERNAL RECOGNITION; Chapter 9 'COVENANT RENEWAL' AND NARRATIVE STRUCTURE; Chapter 10 TALION; Bibliography; Index of References; Index of Authors
Summary
This book explains and illustrates a variety of semiotic issues in the study of biblical law. Commencing with a review of relevant literature in linguistics, philosophy, semiotics and psychology, it examines biblical law in terms of its users, its medium and its message. It criticizes our use of the notion of 'literal meaning', at the level of both words and sentences, preferring to see meaning constructed by the narrative images that the language evokes. These images may come from either social experience or cultural narratives. Speech performance is important, both in the negotiation of the
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 298-317) and indexes
