Results tagged “discourse” from Logos Bible Software Blog

Last week we released our first round of updates to the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament and the High Definition New Testament: ESV Edition.

Since we shipped these two products last summer, Steve has been working on writing the Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction to Discourse Features for Teaching and Exegesis. Like the LDGNT and HDNT, the Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament is another first of its kind and promises to be a great supplement to Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics.

Writing this grammar has given Steve the perfect opportunity to make another careful pass over the annotations in the LDGNT and HDNT and make improvements to them.

Best of all, if you already own the LDGNT or the HDNT, you can get the updated files for free. If you use Libronix on Windows, simply run the resource auto-update script. Libronix Update will automatically copy the new files to your resources folder and overwrite the old ones.

If you're using Logos for Mac, just download the two files (below) and copy them into your resources folder (i.e., Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Libronix DLS/Resources on the startup volume), overwriting the existing ones.

• LDGNT
• HDNTESV

Right-click on the above two files and select "Save Link As..." (Firefox) or "Download Linked File As..." (Safari).

Today's guest post is from Dr. Steve Runge, a scholar-in-residence at Logos Bible Software and author of the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament, Lexham High Definition New Testament, and the forthcoming Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction to Discourse Features for Teaching and Exegesis.

Haddon Robinson is known for what has been called "Big Idea Preaching" based on the importance he places on preaching the central concept of a passage instead of merely the supporting ideas. The key to preaching the big idea is finding the big idea. He cites a really great example from Hebrews 10:19-25. Below is the text in the ESV.

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

There are a whole gaggle of ideas in this passage. It can be tricky to unpack it properly.

One of the primary goals of the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament and the Lexham High Definition New Testament is to help guide you through the process of digesting the grammar and structure of a passage. In the case of Hebrews 10, vv. 19-21 play the role of setting the state for the big idea that is given in v. 22. When passages get as complex as this, it is a real challenge to successfully find your way through to the big idea.

Now take a look at the same passage in the HDNT:

The "Complex" label on the left tells you that you are headed into a passage that has a lot happening. The "Principle" line is the main idea of the complex sentence, indicated by being indented only one level. All of the other supporting elements like the bullets, sub-points and elaboration are indented at least two places. The labels also help you understand what each of these parts is doing. The grayed text indicates backgrounding, information that helps to set the stage for the main idea, but is backgrounded to make sure the main idea is not missed.

If you are looking for some great resources for preaching, I would encourage you to look at a the Baker Preaching Collection, which is currently on Pre-Pub. If you want to learn more about discourse and its practical application to the New Testament, check out my forthcoming Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament. It provides all the background you have wanted to know about the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament and the HDNT.

See also Haddon Robinson and Discourse Grammar, Part 1.

Steve Runge, a scholar-in-residence here at Logos and author of the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament, the High Definition New Testament, and the forthcoming Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction to Discourse Features for Teaching and Exegesis has contributed to the blog here on several occasions.

But he has a lot more to say about discourse grammar, his area of expertise, so he's decided to start his own blog, NT Discourse. His stated goal is to remove the mystery from discourse grammar. If it's still a mystery to you, you might want to give it a read.

Steve's hit the blogging ground running, and has been averaging about five posts per week. Here's a sampling of the kinds of things he's been discussing:

• Intro to near/far distinctions
• Structuring information
• Meta-comment: Gal 1:9
• Choice and meaning
• The many faces of 'this', part 3
• The many faces of 'this', part 2
• The many faces of 'this', part 1
• Which "if" is it? Semantic meaning versus pragmatic effect
• Introduction to Meta-comments

If you've purchased the LDGNT or the HDNT and are looking for some help learning how to put them to good use, you'll definitely want to check out Steve's new blog. You RSS folks can grab his newly burned FeedBurner feed.

Even if you're not into discourse grammar, you won't want to miss Steve and his dog singing a duet!

We just posted a new video from Steve Runge about the Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament. You can watch it on the LDGNT product page or right here in the blog post.

Steve's been working hard for the last few months on a new discourse-related project, so be on the lookout for an announcement—perhaps even sometime this week.