Posts tagged with "Grice’s Maxims of Conversation"

Grice's Maxims Applied to Biblical Interpretation

I posted shortly ago about Grice’s “Maxims of Conversation,” but I wanted to take a brief moment to say that these maxims are not only useful ideas for conversation, but also can be applied to Biblical interpretation.  Take for example the “Maxim of Manner,” which has as a sub-point “be brief (avoid unnecessary wordiness).”  One thing that can be helpful to look for in Biblical interpretation is when an author violates this maxim.  For example, why does the author of Genesis say “the greater light” and “the lesser light” in Genesis 1.16, rather than simply “the sun” and “the moon.”  More words are used than are necessary here.  Of course the author could have just been writing poetically.  Or, perhaps the author was simply a poor writer.  But, I think it has something to do with the demythologizing in Genesis 1 (see HERE along with the comments section).  At any rate, an important question to ask when the maxims of conversation are violated may be whether they are violated for a reason.

Grice's Maxims of Conversation

Tim Bulkeley of SansBlogue has recently started a series of posts about communication (HERE, HERE, and HERE) that is worth checking out.  And, as I read the first couple of posts a lot of this information reminded me of Grice’s “Maxims of Conversation,” which I first encountered in some introductory books on linguistics, such as Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics by Dirven and Verspoor and An Introduction to Language by Fromkin and Rodman.

When I first read Grice’s maxims, I thought to myself that this was something that every, and I mean every, preacher or pastor needed to hear.  But, I never really acted on that thought.  So, here I am now doing my part.  If you are a preacher, pastor, or communicator of any kind, do yourself a favor and check out Grice’s maxims.  If you are looking for a helpful exposition of them, I would recommend that of Dirven and Verspoor if you can afford it, not to mention the fact that it is an excellent little introduction to cognitive linguistics appropriate to university level.