Prosopology is a fancy word that means studying a text to see who the main characters are. Ancient manuscripts did not have all the easy paragraph breaks we do. In the case of the Bible, it uses far fewer proper nouns than we do as well. So that makes it tough to identify who is speaking.
Prosopology
What Is Prosopology?
To be a good reader and to dive into the theological depth of the Bible, we need to learn about the concept of prosopology. Now, prosopology is simply a technical word, which refers to the act of defining the person who speaks in a text. The Greek word prospon, from which get prosopology, can take the meaning of “person.” Prosopology, thus, studies the person speaking in a text.
At this point, we might be tempted to roll our eyes at this jargon because of how obvious the point is: of course, we read books and recognize who speakers are. Yet as seasoned readers of the Bible will note, sometimes it is not clear who is speaking in biblical texts. And so It takes some effort to determine the identity of a voice in a text.
At this point, we need to look at a couple of illustrations lest the point become so esoteric that we miss how practical it really is. [Read more…] about What Is Prosopology?
Does Jesus Sing the Song for the Beloved in Isaiah 5?
Who exactly is the beloved in Isaiah 5:1. The verse reads, “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill”?
[Read more…] about Does Jesus Sing the Song for the Beloved in Isaiah 5?