I will be delivering a paper at the 2018 Evangelical Theological Society East Region Meeting in Lancaster, PA, April 7–8.
Here is the title and abstract of the paper:
The Theological Word-Concept Fallacy: James Barr’s Linguistic Critique Then and Now
James Barr’s groundbreaking The Semantics of Biblical Language brought modern linguistic principles to the consciousness of theological and biblical studies. This paper discusses (1) Barr’s criticism of “lexical theology,” in particular Kittle’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament; (2) The different forms of the “theological word-concept” fallacy and specific examples; (3) Reasons why this interpretive fallacy stubbornly persists today in exegetical studies, including recommendations as a way forward.
