Volume 27 of the Linguistic Biblical Studies series published by Brill is officially out now! The volume is edited by Stanley E. Porter, Zachary K. Dawson, and Ryder A. Wishart, entitled The Literary-Linguistic Analysis of the Bible: The Enduring Legacies of Russian Formalism and the Prague Linguistic Circle, and explores various concepts in modern linguistics as applied to biblical studies that relate in some way to the heritage of Russian Formalism and the Prague Linguistics Circle.

In the preface, the editors state:

Among the growing number of contributions to Brill’s LBS series, this is the third edited volume. As with the two previous edited volumes, many of the contributors to this volume have a strong connection to the McMaster Divinity College Linguistic Circle. This group is made up of MDC faculty, current students, alumni, and others who have joined out of a shared interest in the aims of the Circle. The MDC Linguistic Circle first met in November 2009. The Circle takes its inspiration from the Prague Linguistic Circle from which the idea of this volume emerged. Apart from one major interruption for illness, the McMaster Divinity College Linguistic Circle has met continuously, only skipping one meeting due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, during which time the Circle moved to online meetings for two years. The Circle originally met in Porter’s home and now meets in a hybrid format at McMaster Divinity College. The scope of the audience of the Circle has expanded through livestreaming so that, among the fifteen or so in average attendance (sometimes upwards of twenty over the years), the participants may represent or even be in three or four different continents and include multiple nationalities, discussing for several hours a single paper addressing a major topic in biblical linguistics and related fields.

Many of these papers were first presented at an MDC Linguistics Circle gathering, where a two-hour discussion for each paper gave presenters plenty to evaluate, discern, and think about. This volume contains a variety of approaches related to linguistic stylistics, the Prague School, and other related subjects. The Table of Contents is as follows:

• Introduction: Abiding Insights from the Prague Linguistic Circle and Russian Formalism – Stanley E. Porter, Zachary K. Dawson, and Ryder A. Wishart
• 1. What Has Prague to Do with Hamilton? – Jonathan M. Watt
• 2. Linguistic Stylistics and New Testament Interpretation: Philemon as a Test Case – Stanley E. Porter
• 3. Stylistics and the Relationship between Parallelism and Purpose in Luke-Acts: How the Prague Linguistic Circle’s Legacy Is Advancing Lukan Scholarship – Zachary K. Dawson
• 4. Thematization in Luke 4: A Discourse-Thematic Analysis of Luke 4 in Light of the Models of V. Mathesius, M.A.K. Halliday, and S.E. Porter & M.B. O’Donnell – Hojoon J. Ahn
• 5. The Functional Sentence Perspective of the Prague School of Linguistics and Its Application to 1 Thessalonians 1:2–4 – Sungmin Kim
• 6. The Linguistic Legacy of Vilém Mathesius: Synoptic Information Structure Analysis, and a Comparative Study of Old Greek Genesis 47:13–26, Philo, and Josephus – David J. Fuller
• 7. Karl Bühler, the Forgotten Man in the Prague Linguistic Circle – Stanley E. Porter
• 8. Literature from a Functional Perspective: Building on René Wellek’s Social Institution View of Literature – Ryder A. Wishart
• 9. Miracle Stories in the Gospel of Mark: Morphology and Interpretation – Jesús Peláez
• 10. The Application of Bakhtin’s Incorporated Genre in Biblical Studies – John de Jong and Allan Bell
• 11. Structuralism, Boris Uspensky’s Point of View Poetics, and Robert Polzin’s Approach to Old Testament Interpretation – Mary L. Conway
• Conclusion: The Legacies of Russian Formalism and the Prague Linguistic Circle and Their Prospects for Biblical Studies – Stanley E. Porter, Zachary K. Dawson, and Ryder A. Wishart

As you can see from the TOC, this volume will be helpful for those who have little to no knowledge about the Prague School or Russian Formalism, as well as those who continue to engage in the various issues related to these groups. Access to this volume is probably best acquired through your local seminary or university library or Google Books (although page availability is obviously limited).

— David I. Yoon