Revelation as a discourse of language through speech act theory

Date
2021-02-16
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS
Abstract
Systematic theology regards revelation as a divine discourse between God and us. However, it seems that it does not fully explain how God’s divine discourse transforms our life and what implications it has. Therefore, this article suggests investigating ‘revelation as a discourse of language’ in the light of speech act theory (SAT). If we illuminate revelation as a discourse of language as a SAT, the following three hermeneutical contributions to revelation are expected: firstly, revelation is a ‘communicative act’ between God and believer as a ‘discourse of language’ of God; secondly, it shows how the language of revelation bridges the gap between ‘divine language’ and ‘human language’ in terms of revelation as a discourse of language, and thirdly, it confirms how God’s Word (revelation) is real in the lives of believers.
Description
CITATION: Cho, A. 2021. Revelation as a discourse of language through speech act theory. HTS Theological Studies, 77(4):a6271, doi:10.4102/hts.v77i4.6271.
The original publication is available at https://hts.org.za
Keywords
Bible. Revelations -- Criticism, interpretation, etc., Discourse analysis, Speech acts (Linguistics)
Citation
Cho, A. 2021. Revelation as a discourse of language through speech act theory. HTS Theological Studies, 77(4):a6271, doi:10.4102/hts.v77i4.6271.