Date of Award

1997

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Religion, Old Testament Studies PhD

First Advisor

Richard M. Davidson

Second Advisor

Roy E. Gane

Third Advisor

Leona G. Running

Abstract

The aim and purpose of this dissertation is to investigate both the microstructure and macrostructure of Leviticus on the basis of terminological patterns.

The first chapter deals with the method of analysis and the scope of the study. Aiming at detecting thestructural outline, it is concerned only with terminology and not with the theology of Leviticus. The methodology employed is one aspect of rhetorical criticism.

Chapter 2 presents the basic working hypothesis: Leviticus has been structured by means of thirty-seven divine speeches (DS). The plausibility of this hypothesis is tested by applying it to Lev 16:1, by investigating the terminological interrelationship of chaps. 1-3 and chap. 27, and by probing the terminology employed in Lev 11; in an excursus theinterrelation of Lev 1-5 and 6-7 is investigated.

The third chapter is devoted to scrutinizing terminological patterns present on the microstructural level, that is, the level of the distinct DS, in the whole of Leviticus. This part shows that grasping the compositional outline of a given pericope is an indispensable prerequisite for understanding its content.

Chapter 4 examines the validity of the working hypothesis on the macrostructural level, that is, the terminological interrelatedness of the distinct and different DS. This part evidences the intricate terminological and hence theological cohesion of the extant text of Leviticus.

The fifth chapter gives a general summary and conclusions.

The appended concordance of Leviticus, which has been arranged according to the distribution of the vocabulary of the individual DS, presents the total vocabulary of Leviticus.

Subject Area

Bible. Leviticus -- Criticism, interpretation, etc

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/164/

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