Promise and Prayer: The Biblical Writings in the Light of Speech-Act Theory

by Anthony C. Thiselton

Overview

In the Bible, promise and prayer are essential and connected components of the inter-personal relationship between God and his people. And both promise and prayer are kinds of action undertaken by means of speaking, utterances philosophers refer to as speech acts. In the case of promises this is clear: they constitute firm commitments to act in certain ways under appropriate conditions. This book considers biblical examples of divine promise, from both Old and New Testaments. All speech acts depend upon institutional facts, and Thiselton argues that in the biblical writings Divine promises are based on the prior institution of God's covenant. That same covenant forms the institutional context of prayer. Thiselton shows how different kinds of prayer--blessing, thanksgiving and praise, petition and intercession--count as speech acts in different ways and to different degrees.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781725253629
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	11/12/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	126
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Anthony C. Thiselton is Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology in the Universities of Nottingham and Chester. He is also Emeritus Canon Theologian of Leicester and Southwell & Nottingham. He is author of some thirty-five books.

Anthony C. Thiselton is Emeritus Canon Professor of Christian Theology in the University of Nottingham. He has written twenty books, including The Holy Spirit (2013), The Last Things (2012), The Hermeneutics of Doctrine (2007), and The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC, 2000). He holds the PhD, DD, and DTheol, and is a Fellow of the British Academy. With poor eyesight and a severe stroke, he has spent fifty-four years in Ordained Ministry and the University.