Genesis 1:1-2:3:: a Textlinguistic Analysis

This book investigates Gen 1:1-2:3 using an eclectic approach: grammatical textlinguistics and literary analysis. The need for such approach has arisen not only in view of the emergence of text-oriented approaches resulting from the recent methodological switch from historical diachronism to literary synchronism, but also the realization that the integration of textlinguistics and literary analysis promises fresh avenues for analyzing and understanding biblical texts, including such difficult passages as the first pericope of the Hebrew Bible. The textlinguistic aspect of this study focuses on clause structure, paragraph structure, and lexical semantics, while the literary aspect focuses on the text type and structure of Gen 1:1-2:3. Thus, a ?bottom-up' process is followed where analysis proceeds from the lower level to the higher level of the text, so that the analysis of text type and structure of the pericope is informed by the analysis of morposyntax and clause patterns. While this study is, to some extent, an experiment in method, a few important conclusions have been reached that relate to several problem areas in the pericope.