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What is Parallelism?

What is Parallelism?

Robert LO

The main purpose of this essay is to briefly introduce the reader to recent developments in the study of parallelism in biblical Hebrew poetry. Ever since the eighteenth century, parallelism has been roughly analyzed into three categories: synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic. But recent studies have shown the inadequacies of such categorization. It is especially discovered that the last category is too broad to serve any useful purpose in the analysis of Hebrew biblical poetry. 

The author discusses three recent attempts to bring parallelism into sharper focus. These are represented by the studies of James L. Kugel, Adele Berlin, and Robert Alter. Each of them approaches parallelism from a different perspective. Among them, Kugel has the greatest reservation about the presence of parallelism as such. His studies have been the most controversial. Adele Berlin approaches parallelism from the perspective of modern linguistics. And Robert Alter deals with the same phenomenon on the basis of literary theory and semantics.

Each of these studies offers us a different perspective or method to the study of parallelism, and broadens our understanding of this phenomenon. Altogether they serve to remind the reader of ancient Hebrew poetry of the importance of not just extracting messages and applications from the texts but also the need to deal with the texts from an appreciative and aesthetic standpoint.

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Message from the Editor of Issue 48

Editor's Note: Wu Guojie Since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, the number of people infected worldwide has exceeded 250 million, and the number of deaths has exceeded 5 million. This number does not include poor third-world countries with weak testing capabilities and inability to determine the cause of death. Due to the epidemic, the lives, economy, and travel of people around the world have been affected to varying degrees; for example, people have to wear masks when going out, maintain social distance, the number of gatherings is limited, quarantine is required when entering the country, travel has been greatly reduced, related industries have laid off employees, and unemployment has Rates thus increase and so on. In this environment, church gatherings have also been affected to a considerable extent. During the period when the epidemic was severe and gatherings were restricted, physical church gatherings were suspended, and online live broadcasts and video conversations became necessary alternative modes; even if the epidemic eased and physical gatherings reopened, online Synchronization has also become the new normal. In the face of this disaster, which is called the "pandemic of the century," what resources does the Christian faith have that can help the church respond and turn the crisis into an opportunity? This issue of "Sandow Journal" takes "Epidemics and Disasters" as the theme, and brings together different scholars to discuss it from the perspectives of the two Testaments, doctrinal theology, and practical theology, hoping to enlighten modern Christians on how to deal with the challenges of this era. ...