The Meaning and Uses of βασιλεία in the Gospel of Matthew. Semantic Monosemy and Pragmatic Modulation
Sammanfattning
This study examines the meaning and uses of the term βασιλεία in the Gospel of Matthew. Contrary to the predominant scholarly view, according to which the pertinent term is a verbal noun signifying God’s exercise of kingship, it argues that this so-called dynamic usage is merely one aspect of a much fuller concept and multifaceted utilization of the term. Taking its theoretical point of departure in C. Ruhl’s notion of semantic monosemy and pragmatic modulation, the study instead suggests that the term βασιλεία has a single, abstract, general, and diversity-unifying meaning – viz. that which pertains to royalty – which is pragmatically modulated by co- and contextual factors, to the effect that senses relevant to the respective settings in which the term occurs are engendered. More precisely, the study submits that the pragmatic range of the term in Matthew’s Gospel covers both five distinct categories of use – personal (king), abstract (kingly status), dynamic (kingship), collective (people/kin-ship) and spatial (kingdom) – and their integration into a coherent concept.
After discussing the variegated use of βασιλεία in the literary and linguistic environment of Matthew’s gospel as exemplified by the Greek Book of Daniel, all fifty-five occurrences of the term in the first Gospel are examined by means of a composition-critical method, with the objective of identifying which particular category of use each occurrence belongs to. As the analysis demonstrates, although Matthew occasionally uses βασιλεία dynamically concerning God’s exercise of his “kingship” this usage only plays a rather nominal role vis-à-vis the overall account. It is instead the collective use of βασιλεία as “kin-ship” that emerges as the most frequent and significant category in Matthew. Moreover, though not as frequently attested as the former, the personal use of βασιλεία as “king” also plays a relatively prominent role in the Matthean account. Together these two uses attest and contribute to Matthew’s overarching dual focus on the Messiah and his people, and the gradual shift in attention from the former to the latter
From the centrality and significance of βασιλεία, and how it is entangled with virtually all other themes, literary and/or theological, in Matthew’s gospel, it follows that in-depth study of how the pertinent term is used is not only of importance in order to appreciate the Matthean Zentralbegriff in-and-of-itself, but is also incumbent for an accurate apprehension of the nature and aims of the Matthean narrative as a whole as well as the theological sentiments it aims to communicate.
Examinationsnivå
Doctor of Philosophy
Universitet
Göteborgs universitet. Humanistiska fakulteten
University of Gothenburg. Faculty of Humanities
Institution
Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion ; Institutionen för litteratur, idéhistoria och religion
Disputation
Fredagen den 11 december 2020, kl. 13.15, Lilla Hörsalen, Renströmsgatan 6
Datum för disputation
2020-12-11
E-post
tobias.alow@lir.gu.se
Fil(er)
Datum
2020-11-13Författare
Ålöw, Tobias
Nyckelord
Bible
New Testament
The Gospel of Matthew
The Book of Daniel
The Kingdom of Heaven
The Kingdom of God
Charles Ruhl
Composition-criticism
Publikationstyp
Doctoral thesis
ISBN
978-91-89284-01-2
Serie/rapportnr.
Avhandlingar framlagda vid Institutionen för litteratur, idéhistoria och religion, Göteborgs universitet
64
Språk
eng