Biblical Language Grammars and the Barriers They Create

Payne (2010) made a vital observation about grammar writing, that a grammar is a communicative act: “While authors of … a grammatical description cannot possibly envision all the possible communicative effects their work might have, authors do have intended communicative effects in mind. These intended effects will guide the writing of the grammar at various points. The intended communicative effects will depend on the intended contexts in which the grammar will be used” (Payne 2010: 141). We take Payne’s insight and apply it to the biblical languages. Grammars of biblical languages, whether reference or pedagogical, are also communicative, but their intended audiences are not minority language Bible translators, consultants, or linguists. Most existing biblical language grammars are in English. They are also grammars for English speakers. These are not grammars for Bible translation. Existing biblical language grammars are not accessible. They use the jargon of the English grammar tradition. They do not ask the same questions Bible translators ask. We illustrate the problems with existing grammars by highlighting specific grammatical phenomena and how they privilege English in their presentation in ways that are problematic for users from other languages. In a world where communicative methods are beginning make biblical languages more accessible, we propose that a functional approach to biblical language grammar would provide a more effective means of making knowledge of Greek and Hebrew more accessible and in turn better empower translation teams and consultants to more effectively engage with Greek and Hebrew in ways that directly relate to their receptor languages.