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" An Analysis of Narrative Closure in Exodus 1–18 "
Turner, Bruce B.
Chisholm, Robert B.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1054460
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| Doc. No
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TL53577
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| Main Entry
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Turner, Bruce B.
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| Title & Author
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An Analysis of Narrative Closure in Exodus 1–18\ Turner, Bruce B.Chisholm, Robert B.
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| College
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Dallas Theological Seminary
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| Date
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2020
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2020
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| Note
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344 p.
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| Abstract
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Over the past forty years, biblical scholars have appropriated the principles of literary criticism in their interpretive methods. However, they have only recently begun to examine the use of closure in the biblical text. I argue that closural analysis serves as an indispensable tool in the exegetical approach to Old Testament narrative. In order to perform closural analysis, the interpreter must first determine the boundaries of the literary units. In this dissertation, I utilize three delimitation methods and approaches (discourse, plot, and literary analyses) to discern the narrative structure of Exodus 1–18. This process yields four literary levels (in order of size from microstructure to macrostructure): scene, act, episode, and narrative phase. Discourse analysis entails dividing the Hebrew text into clauses and searching for non-wayyiqtol boundary markers that begin or end a literary unit. In determining unit boundaries, the interpreter also identifies the conclusion, which may be at the boundary line (an ending) or close to it (an end-section). On occasion, literary analysis (the identification of the section’s characters, setting, and time frame) assists the interpreter in unit delimitation, particularly in the absence of boundary markers. In plot analysis, the interpreter carefully examines the text for plot functions, particularly the climax. This moment of transformation in the plotline pinpoints the beginning of the unit’s end-section. In this dissertation, I argue that discourse and literary analyses are more effective in determining the smaller units (scenes and acts). Since plot analysis also considers the contribution of the unit to its overarching narrative, I contend that plot analysis is the best means for establishing the structure of the broader units (episodes and narrative phases). In closural analysis, the interpreter searches for the narrator’s literary devices that signal closure in the unit endings or end-sections. The list of potential devices contains conventions that are either linguistic, thematic, or structural in nature. With few exceptions, I identify closural devices in each unit of the Exodus narrative. After locating these devices, I briefly explain their meaning and function within their literary units. In analyzing closure, the interpreter surfaces clues of the narrator’s rhetorical and theological themes. The analysis of closural devices in the Exodus narrative guides the reader in discovering significant moments in Israel’s history, honest depictions of human struggle, the development or devolution of the human characters, and of primary importance, YHWH’s glorious name, character, and acts. In discussing rhetoric and theology, I hope to inspire scholars in their enjoyment of the biblical text, the application of its truths to life, and their contribution to the well-deserved exaltation of YHWH.
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| Descriptor
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Ancient languages
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Biblical studies
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Literature
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Chisholm, Robert B.
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Dallas Theological Seminary
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