Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 12:2 (Fall 2021)
Article: Interview With David Alan Black
Author: Anonymous

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Interview With David Alan Black

David Alan Black is Retired Senior Professor New of Testament and Greek and Dr. M. O. Owens, Jr. Chair of New Testament Studies (Former) at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina. He received his Doctor of Theology degree at the University of Basel in 1983. His publications include Learn to Read New Testament Greek, Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek: A Survey of Basic Concepts and Applications, and It’s Still Greek to Me: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Intermediate Greek. He has also edited or co-edited numerous books, including Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation: Essays on Discourse Analysis, Interpreting the New Testament: Essays on Methods and Issues, and Linguistics and New Testament Greek: Key Issues in the Current Debate.

In literary studies, scholars tend to view some texts as more “literary” than others. As Terry Eagleton explains, “The most common mistake students of literature make is to go straight for what the poem or novel says, setting aside the way it says it. To read like this is to set aside the ‘literariness’ of the work—the fact that it is a poem or play or novel, rather than an account of the incidence of soil erosion in Nebraska. … Part of what we mean by a ‘literary’ work is one in which what is said is to be taken in terms of how it is said. It is the kind of writing in which the content is inseparable from the language in which it is presented.”1 As a biblical scholar, do you find this distinction useful in understanding the Scriptures? Do you see a range of more- and less-literary texts in the Bible?

Yes, I do indeed see a range of literary texts in the New Testament. Here I am speaking, of course, only of the New Testament since that is my field of study. I once recalled Marshall McLuhan famously saying, “The medium is the message.” I do not agree with that statement completely, but I do believe it is partly true. I do not think the medium is the message, but I do think the medium is a big part of the message. In other words, when we study the New Testament writings, and here I am referring to the original Greek, we must understand that not only what is said is important but also how it is said is also vitally important. My conviction is based upon 2 Tim 3:16, the famous passage that asserts the inspiration of the Bible. In other words, pasa graphē theopneustos means more than just

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that the words were inspired by God. It means that everything written down in the text is inspired by God. Does this include the words? Of course ...