初探「語言做事理論」對聖經研究的貢獻

SPEECH ACT THEORY AND BIBLICAL STUDIES

邵樟平(Calvin C. Sao)

《建道學刊》 10期 (1998/07) Pp. 23-41

摘要

本文作者指出，聖經研究現已步向多元化的局面，故本文從科際整合的大前提下，借用語言哲學中的「語言做事理論」，探究將該理論引入聖經研究的可行性及其貢獻，藉此豐富聖經研究的方法，拓闊華人聖經研究的視野。

並列摘要

The plurality of biblical interpretation has been recognized as a challenge of paradigm shift in biblical studies. This article argues that Chinese biblical scholars should face the challenge by understanding the recent developments in biblical studies methods. Instead of writing a general introductory essay, the writer chooses Speech Act Theory as his focus in this study and explains its contributions to biblical studies. After introducing the development of the theory since John Austin, the article pinpoints the significance of some basic concepts of the theory on biblical research. First, by distinguishing peformative acts from constative acts and emphasing the importance of illocutionary acts of discourses, speech act theory corrects the mistakes of logical postivism and analytic philosophy, which also has a strong influence in traditional biblical studies, in respect of the usage and meaning of language (i.e., disregards the aspect of language of doing things). Second, the theory would enable us to aware and to grasp the meaning of the text of its extra-linguistic world, while the traditional biblical studies would not. Finally, the concepts of non-natural meaning and indirect speech acts show the importance of illocutionary act in understanding the meaning of a speech. Therefore, it reminds the biblical scholars not only satisfy in finding out the literal meaning of the text, but should also investigate the authorial intention behind the text.