Jean-Pierre van Noppen
: Spatial Theography. A Study in Theographic Expression and
Communication in Contemporary British Popular Theology. Ph.D.
Diss., Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1980. Ann Arbor,
Mich.: UMI, 1980.
In answer to complaints from philosophers and theologians
about the inefficiency of religious language nowadays, this study
seeks to assess the communicative "cash value" of descriptive
("theographic") God-statements using the imagery of
localisation, directions and dimensions. The basic corpus is
constituted by a choice of 35 texts representative of popular
theology in the nineteen sixties, among which John Robinson's
explosive paperback Honest to God.
The specificity of theographic discourse is not to be found on
the word or clause level, but on the semantic level, where the
logic of meaning can adequately be described in terms of metaphoric
reference - notably by virtue of Max Black's Interaction Theory
- and many instances of misunderstanding can be explained in
terms of non-recognition of that logic.
The meaning associated with the propositions by the public is
investigated by means of a Corpus of letters in which correspondents
spontaneously speak about their beliefs, and by a small-scale
socio-semantic survey in which theographic statements are correlated
with theological categories through semantic association.
In a comprehensive analysis ("triangulation"), the
authors' and the public's meanings are situated within a whole
constellation of potential (scriptural, psychological, cultural
...) meanings. This synthesis evinces that terms in theography
derive their full meaning from interaction with the Christian
belief system, but that they are not always understood within
this perspective. The ability to process the terms correctly
is assimilated to communicative competence in English for Specific
Purposes.
Jean-Pierre van Noppen : Transforming
Words. The Early Methodist Revival from a Discourse Perspective.
Bern : Peter Lang (Religion
and Discourse, 3), 1999.
Contents of Volume : Dimensions of Discourse Analysis: Participation,
Purpose, Medium (Sermons, Hymns, Tracts, Magazines, Journals),
Settings (Field Preaching, Itinerance, Societies, Sunday Schools),
Form (Language, Gender, Class, Register, Imagery, Semantics),
Content (Theological, Social, Ethical), Norms of Interpretation,
Reception, Political Impact.
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Jean-Pierre van Noppen : Transforming Words. The Early Methodist
Revival from a Discourse Perspective. Bern : Peter Lang (Religion and Discourse,
3), 1999.
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Hitherto, the language of the Methodist revival has received
only moderate, and mainly descriptive, attention. A present-day
study should move beyond description and approach the phenomenon
from a «critical» angle, thus allowing the linguist
to assess the indictments which have branded Methodist discourse
as manipulative.
Critics have stereotyped Methodism as an oppressive, reactionary
discourse forced upon illiterate audiences by insidious rhetorical
devices. The guiding hypothesis which underlies such analyses
seems to be that the success of Methodism, if any, was not a
natural and voluntary response to a religious appeal, but the
effect of a deliberate, manipulative process which cynically
sought to trick people into a belief system which conditioned
their world-view and behaviour patterns, allegedly on behalf
of industrial interests which required an obedient and submissive
work force.
The investigation of the workings of Methodist discourse in its
many textualised and non-textualised aspects allows one to understand
the widespread popular impact of the movement in both linguistic
and extralinguistic terms. The discourse analysis which constitutes
the bulk of this study shows that Methodism in its early Wesleyan
stage was remarkably efficient in providing a multi-modal discourse
which managed to reach the working classes and to answer their
needs and aspirations. The widespread popular response to the
message in certain areas may be explained in terms of natural
audience motivation, and there is little if any ground, notwithstanding
Wesley's particular use of language and his explicitly conservative
attitude, to hypothesize a deliberate manipulative socio-political
intent on the part of the Wesleyans.
The critical analysis shows that Wesley's discourse did, however,
contain the seeds of a work ethic which lay the message open
to misunderstanding and misuse in post-Wesleyan Methodism. Under
the influence of increasing embourgeoisement and denominational
self-interest, some branches of later Methodism progressively
abandoned the Wesleyan perspective, and may be suspected of sustaining
capitalist interests in some parts of their discourse; but the
Methodist revival as a whole cannot be indicted with intentional
manipulation of the working masses.
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Theolinguistics, ed. J.-P. van Noppen. Brussel, V.U.B.
(Studiereeks T.U.B., Nieuwe Serie, n° 8), 1981.
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J.P. van Noppen: Preface.
F.W. Dillistone: Attitudes to Religious Language.
J. Greisch: Les mots pour Le dire, les mots pour Le taire.
W.J. Samarin: Gods, Prophets and Subjective Consciousness.
I. Almeida: Réflexions métasémiotiques sur
la nature du discours religieux.
H. Dethier: Het chiffre en de taal van de transcendentie.
A. Vergote: La fonction opérative du Nom de Dieu.
J.P. Gabus: Le statut symbolique du langage biblique et la fonction
idéologique.
G.P. Widmer: La parole du salut et le discours sotériologique.
H.A. Meynell: Myth in Christian Religion.
J. Macquarrie: A Generation of Demythologizing
E.R. MacCormac: Semantic and Syntactic Meaning of Religious Metaphors.
W.A. De Pater: Prayer and the Presence of God.
D.W. Robertson, Jr.: Religion and Stylistic History.
J.P. van Noppen: "In" as a Theographic Metaphor.
T. Fawcett: The Primordiality Motif in the Jewish and Christian
Tradition.
D. Crystal : Generating Theological Language
E.A. Nida: Semantic Reinterpretation of Primary Religious Vocabulary
M.L. Rotsaert: Progression spirituelle et progression grammaticale.
J. Dierickx: The Lisibility of a Popular Bible.
L. Robberechts: Texte et Contexte. Préalables Phénoménologiques.
P. Ricoeur: Nommer Dieu. |
Metaphor and Religion (Theolinguistics II), ed. J.-P.
van Noppen. Brussel, V.U.B. (Studiereeks T.U.B., Nieuwe Serie,
n° 12), 1983.
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J.P. van Noppen: Metaphor and Religion.
S. Sawatzky: Metaphor, Cognition and Culture.
M. Hesse: The Cognitive Claims of Metaphor.
E.R. MacCormac: Religious Metaphors: Linguistic Expressions of
Cognitive Processes.
F. Ferré: Organizing Images and Scientific Ideals: Religious
World Models.
J. Whittaker: The Point of a Belief.
S. McFague: Metaphorical Theology.
J.P. van Noppen: Interpretation Errors in Theory and Practice.
J.S. Petöfi: Metaphor in Everyday Communication.
A. Nysenholc: La métaphore initiatique.
G. Roosevelt: Healing and Wounding Metaphors.
C. Hargreaves: Metaphors in the Indian Religious Tradition.
N. Delbecque: Metaphors in a Feminist Perspective.
D.M. Park: The Value of Biblical Metaphors.
J.M. Buscarlet: La lampe et le bateau. |
Tendances actuelles dans l'étude de la métaphore.
(Brussels Preprints in Linguistics, 9).
ed. J.-P. van Noppen. Bruxelles, ULB/VUB, Brussels Linguistics
Circle, 1985.
J.P. van Noppen: Anamnèse: l'évolution du statut
de la métaphore.
R. Jongen: Identité et unité, métaphore
et métonymie.
A. Nysenholc: Les gags: des jeux de mots ou le muet parlant ?
J.P. van Noppen: L'identification linguistique de la métaphore.
B. Nitelet: La métaphore enfantine.
S. De Knop: La fonction d'attraction des composés métaphoriques
dans les titres de presse.
Communiquer et Traduire/Communicating and Translating. Hommages
à Jean Dierickx, ed. G. Debusscher & J.-P. van
Noppen. Bruxelles, Editions de l'U.L.B., 1985.
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H. Hasquin: Jean Dierickx, la sagesse et le flegme.
Bibliographie des travaux de Jean Dierickx.
I. Heidelberger-Leonard: Translation as the Prime Art of Communication
?
R. Goffin: La science de la traduction 1955-1985. Une tentative
de bilan provisoire.
E. André: Aspects of Translating and Conference Interpreting.
M.J. De Vriendt-De Man: Des sentences dorées ou la poussière
de la sagesse humaine.
M. Whitburn: Le chaînon manquant.
H. Plard: Sur les limites du traduisible: Zazie dans le Métro
en anglais et en allemand.
C. Peeters: Was Bishop Wulfila a Good Translator ?
G. Thoveron: Quality / Popular: intraduisibles en français
?
A.M. Vandenbergen: Conjunction and Continuity in Newspaper Reports
L. Goossens: What's in an Advertising Name ?
E. Vorlat: On Idioms in the Lonely Hearts Column.
M. Rémy: Féminisation des titres et professions:
dissonances à propos du la.
P. Hadermann: Les phylactères de Saul Steinberg ou les
plaisirs de la conversation.
A. Joly: Pour une analyse systématique des modalités
non-verbales de la communication.
J. Noël, J. Janssen & J.P. Mergeay: Disambiguating Definition
Language in Two Automatic Dictionaries of English: Outline of
a Computer-Aided Procedure.
J.L. Vidick: La compréhension automatique des textes en
langue naturelle.
J. Van Roey: Deceptive Terminology for Deceptive Cognates.
J.P. van Noppen: In and beyond the Glossary, or on Making Maps
out of Puzzles.
C. Javeau: Esquisse d'une sociologie de l'apprentissage d'une
langue étrangère.
A. Coupez: Obstacles sociaux et recherche linguistique en Afrique
intertropicale.
H. Baetens Beardsmore: Medium and Message Oriented Communication
Compared with the BICS/CALP Theory in Bilingual Education.
S. De Vriendt: Tu (ne) ceux pas une fois ouvrir la porte pour
le chat ?
M. Dominicy: Sur les emplois «temporels» de only.
M. Wilmet: *A kiwi abounds in this area: note sur l'article
«indéfini générique».
Y. Lebrun: La glossolalie.
S. Baghdikian: He did not seeke vs. He seeketh not:
Are you a Queen or a Country Woman ?
R. Jansen-Sieben: Les Contenances de table d'Erasme en
néerlandais.
I. Simon: The Theatre Motif in William Golding's Rites of
Passage.
D. & J. Weisgerber: Couleurs, chiffres et lettres: Het
verdriet van België, un palimpseste maçonnique
de Hugo Claus.
P. Delsemme: Oscar Wilde et la Belgique fin de siècle.
J. Delbaere-Garant: Prospero To-Day: Magus, Monster or Patriarch
?
G. Debusscher: Educating Rita, or an Open University Pygmalion.
M. Maufort: Communication as Translation of the Self: Jamesian
Inner Monologue in O'Neill's Strange Interlude (1927). |
Bachelard et la métaphore. (Numéro spécial
desCahiers Internationaux de Symbolisme, 53-54-55, ed.
J.-P. van Noppen). Mons, 1986.
C. Lejeune: Editorial.
J.P. van Noppen: Introduction: Bachelard et la métaphore.
S. Vierne: Bonheur de rêver, bonheur d'écrire.
S. Helein-Koss: Gaston Bachelard: vers une nouvelle méthodologie
de l'image littéraire ?
A.C. Benchelah: La verticalité n'est pas une vaine métaphore.
M.R. Higonnet: Métaphores mortelles: l'eau et les rêves.
J.G. Clark: Gaston Bachelard et la réalité des
métaphores alchimiques.
M. Voisin: Dialectiques de la métaphore gnomique dans
l'uvre de Bachelard.
P. Ginestier: Aux sources de la création.
S. Rozenberg: L'image chez Bachelard: un archétype "poétisé"
?
F. Pire: Bachelard et la critique non-freudienne.
D.E. Denton: Entre les concepts et l'expérience: Bachelard
et Freud.
J.P. van Noppen: Une nouvelle bibliographie des ouvrages relatifs
à Gaston Bachelard.
Erinnern, um Neues zu sagen. Die Bedeutung der Metapher
für die religiöse Sprache, Hg. J.-P. van Noppen.
Frankfurt/Main, Athenäum Verlag, 1988.
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J.P. van Noppen: Metapher und Religion.
Einleitung.
E. Jüngel: Thesen zur theologischen Metaphorologie.
J.M. Soskice: Metapher und Offenbarung.
E.R.MacCormac: Die semantische und syntaktische Bedeutung von
religiösen Metaphern.
F.Ferré: Organisierende Bilder und wissenschaftliche Ideale:
Zwei Quellen für zeitgenössische religiöse Weltmodelle.
M. Hesse: Die kognitiven Ansprüche der Metapher.
E.R. MacCormac: Religiöse Metaphern: Linguistischer Ausdruck
kognitiver Prozesse.
S. McFague: Metaphorische Theologie.
J.P. van Noppen: "In" als theographische Metapher.
D. Tracy: Metapher und Religion als Beispiel christlicher Texte.
M.S. Kjärgaard: Metaphern, Gleichnisse und Ich bin-Aussagen
im Johannes-evangelium.
P.G. Kos-Schaap: "Metaphors We Live By" im Lukasevangelium
10-20.
A. Morelli: Die alten Metaphern und die neue Frauentheologie.
D. Crystal: Das Generieren theologischer Sprache. |
How to Do Things with Metaphor - La pratique de la métaphore.
Special Issue, Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, LXVIII
(1990) n° 3, ed. J.-P. van Noppen.
J.P. van Noppen: Questions sur la métaphore.
A.J.N. Judge: Recontextualizing Social Problems through Metaphor.
F. Rigotti: La théorie politique et ses métaphores.
R. Dirven: Metaphor and Ideology.
D. Loose: Voor een theologie van de metafoor.
J.M. Soskice: Some Comments on Metaphor and Linguistic Change
in Religion.
A. Lempereur: La métaphore et la communication en sciences
humaines.
I.N. Bulhof: Metaphors and Praxis: Reading the Book of Nature.
R. Bisschops: Metapher, Wert und Rang.
E.R. MacCormac: The Cognitive Beauty of Metaphorical Images.
G. Steen: How to Do Things with Metaphor in Literature.
J.O. Thompson: Ado-ing with Shakespearean Metaphor: Much
or Little ?
New Horizons in Stylistics ? - La Stylistique en quête
de nouveaux horizons, ed. J.P. van Noppen & M. Frédéric.
Special Issue, Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, 71
(1993) n° 3.
M. Frédéric & J.P. van Noppen: Avant-Propos.
J.J. Lecercle: La stylistique est morte, vive la stylistique.
J.M. Klinkenberg: Sénescences et jouvences des stylistiques:
la stylistique fin-de-siècle dans le champ des sciences.
L. Hickey: Stylistics, Pragmatics and Pragmastylistics.
A. Mercier: La sémiotique en quête de nouveaux horizons:
une rencontre avec la stylistique.
M. Colas-Blaise & J.J. Weber: Sade between Labov and Greimas
/ Sade entre Labov et Greimas.
A. Viala: Stylistique et sociologie: classe de postures.
L. Rosier: De le stylistique sociologique, suivie d'une application
pratique: discours direct, presse et objectivités.
D. Saint-Jacques, D. Geisen & I. Greulich: Le style des lecteurs
de best-sellers.
D. O'Kelly & A. Joly: Pour une stylistique de la parole transcrite:
analyse d'un fragment d'interview à la BBC.
J.L. Martinez-Dueñas: Words, Women and Orders: the Stylistics
of Anglican Discourse.
J.M. Swales: Genre and Engagement.
R. Tuffs: A Genre Approach to Writing in the Second Language
Classroom.
T. Bex: The Genre of Advertising.
A. Meurman-Solin: The Author-Addressee Relationship and the Marking
of Stance in the Characterization of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-
Century Genre Styles.
Text and Ideology / La dimension idéologique du texte,
ed. J.P. van Noppen & R. Tuffs. Special Issue,
Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, 73 (1995) n°
3.
J.P. van Noppen & R. Tuffs: Preface.
G. Bourque & J. Duchastel: Texte, discours et idéologie.
G. Kress: Moving beyond a critical paradigm: on the requirements
of a social theory of language.
S. Slembrouck: Discursieve praxis en ideologie.
F. Rigotti: la dimension idéologique du texte philosophique.
F. Boers & M. Demecheleer: Travellers, patients and warriors
in English, Dutch and French economic discourse.
J.P. van Noppen: Methodist discourse and industrial work ethic:
a critical theolinguistic approach.
I. Gonzales Cruz: Lengua, prestigio y prejuicios lingüisticos:
algunas consideraciones sobre el español.
P. De Brabanter: Long Walk to Freedom, or how Time Magazine
manipulates Nelson Mandela into unwittingly forging his own image.
E. Schmatz: Bürgernahe Verwaltungssprache oder Autorität
in neuem Gewand ?
H. Uske: Die diskursive Entsorgung der Massenarbeitslosigkeit.
J. Baerten: L'influence des idéologies francophile et
wallingante sur l'historiographie de Bruxelles et des Fourons.
M. De la Ruelle: The Ideological Necessities of Critical Theory.
C. Den Tandt: Invoking the Abyss: the Ideologies of the Postmodern
Sublime.
C. Bush: Hidden persuasions: ideology and the representation
of commodities in miod-twentieth century American culture.
F. Moulin-Civil: le discours du renversement dans le roman cubain
de l'exil.
J. Stephens: Writing by children, writing for children:
schema theory, narrative discourse and ideology.
(with Marc Maufort) Voices of Power, ed. M. Maufort
& J.P. van Noppen. Liège, L3/Belgian Association
of Anglicists in Higher Education, 1997).
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J.P. van Noppen: Power, Cooperation
and Conflict in the English Language
M. Stubbs: Constructing a Dictionary of Cultural Keywords
S. Sarangi & S. Slembrouck: Cooperative Rationality in Public
Discourse: the Case of Welfare Leaflets and Citizen Charters.
V. Herman: Misunderstanding and Power: Contests of Understandings.
F. Bellarsi: William S. Burrough's Art: The Search for a Language
that Counters Power.
S. Harris: Strategic Discourse: Power, Co-Operation and Conflict.
R. Tuffs: Patterns of Power in Business Meetings.
F. Boers: Health, Fitness and Mobility in a Free Market Ideology.
I. Knott: The Function and Implications of Metaphor in British
"Quality" and "Popular" Dailies.
R. Lurie: Language, Conflict and Power in the Trial Scene of
Webster's White Devil.
M. Maufort: Power and the Literary Text.
In Memoriam Betty Jean Jones.
P. Parrinder: Textual Policies and the Public Domain: Modern
English Literature and European Copyright.
M. Demoor: Power in Petticoats: Augusta Webster's Poetry, Political
Pamphlets, and Poetry Reviews.
Ch. Zabus: The Power of Sycorax: Gynocracy in Gloria Naylor's
Mama Day and Marina Warner's Indigo .
H.J. Elam, Jr.: "Only in America": Contemporary
American Theater and the Power of Performance
B. J. Jones: Adrienne Kennedy's Dramatic Realism: Power and the
Concept of Being in the American Drama
M. Maufort: "A Rustle of Wind Blowing across Two Continents":
August Wilson's Magic Realism as Expression of Empowerment.
G. Pitcher: The Readerly Ruse: Paul Laurence Dunbar's Dialect
Poetry and the Aesthetics of Authenticity.
C. Den Tandt: Vitalism and Control: Frank Norris's and Jack London's
Urban Sociology.
J. Walravens: Positions of Power in the Funhouse of Form: Sabbatical
as a Key (in)to John Barth's Fiction.
D. Brydon: One Poem Town ? Contemporary Canadian Cultural Debates. |
Genre Theory : New Perspectives / Nouvelles perspectives
en théorie des genres, ed. M. Frédéric
& J.P. van Noppen . Special Issue, Revue Belge de Philologie
et d'Histoire, 75 (1997) n° 3.
M. Frédéric: Avant-propos.
R. Chapman: Changing perspectives in genre theory.
V.K. Bhatia: Genre analysis today.
D. Fishelov: Literary genres - alive and kicking: the productivity
of a literary concept.
J.M. Adam: Genres, textes, discours: pour une reconception linguistique
du concept de genre.
M. Reynolds: Texture and structure in genre.
J. Sampson: "Genre", "style" and "register":
Sources of confusion ?
M. Dominicy: Pour une approche cognitive des genres. L'Espagne
de Théophile Gautier.
D. Bergdahl: Genre in a cognitive perspective: Eliot's Four
Quartets.
T. Bex: Parody and the problem of the anterior text.
F. Dumont: Le fonds des formes: la dynamique des genres chez
André Belleau.
M.C. Pollet: Discours universitaires ou genre académique:
l'explicatif comme zone de (dis)continuité ?
R. Saint-Gelais: Rudiments de lecture policière.
S. Waters: Legal English: One register or several genres ?
"A Method for the Evaluation of Recipient Response to
Metaphorical Propositions", in: Vandeweghe, W. & Vandervelde,
M. (eds.): Bedeutung, Sprechakte und Texte. Akten des 13. linguistischen
Kolloquiums, Gent, 1978, Band II. Tübingen, Niemeyer
Verlag, 1978, pp. 305-312.
Report on a small-scale socio-semantic survey in which theographic
statements are correlated with theological categories through
semantic association. The response to metaphorical propositions
can be measured by means of semantic differential scaling procedures.
"Lecture systématique et lecture biblique",
in: Lectures bibliques. Bruxelles, Institutum Iudaicum,
1980, pp. 83-89.
The paper seeks to denounce a reading process which projects
onto time- and culture-conditioned texts a systematic thought-schema
operating with contemporary categories altogether extraneous
to it, i.e. which were not in the original author's mind. In
Honest to God, Bishop Robinson interprets the vertical
dimension ("height" and "heaven") of Biblical
theography on behalf of a hypothetical "Modern Man"
who has become impervious to the mythological language of the
scriptures. But when he attempts to reformulate the meaning in
a presumably more contemporary language ("depth" and
"ground"), he not only loses part of the original meaning,
but also introduces new, unwelcome assocations, as can be measured
through a semantic differential approach. Denouncing this reading
process should not be interpreted as a fundamentalistic rebuttal
of the systematic approach, which holds its rightful place on
the theological scene; but communicative probity demands that
the message originally intended should not be altered or warped
by successive readings.
"In as a Theographic Metaphor", in: van Noppen
J.-P. (ed.): Theolinguistics. Brussels, V.U.B., 1981, pp.
231-247.
Religious language operates with ordinary terms in extraordinary
uses. The meanings of these terms are to be situated within a
system of biblical and doctrinal presuppositions. This operation
may require these meanings to be detached from their everyday
cultural or individual connotations and to be charged with a
meaning not immediately or integrally inferrable from "ordinary"
language use, but accessible via exegetic and hermeneutic investigation.
The preposition "in" as used in theographic discourse
may be misinterpreted when understood in the "ordinary",
i.e. geometrical perspective. Meanings of propositions like «God
is in -» or «- is in God» are analysed.
"Interpretation Errors in Theory and Practice", in:
van Noppen J.- P. (ed.): Metaphor and Religion (Theolinguistics
2). Brussels, V.U.B., 1983, pp. 131-148.
The model of metaphor logic constitutes a more satisfactory
delineation of the workings of descriptive theological («theographic»)
statements than the more classical attempts (literalness, revelation,
analogy, ...) as its starts from man-centred, i.e. familiar language
use and stretches it beyond the limits of univocal usage to include
tentative reference to the otherworldly. It also allows to chart
the (modest, but real) cognitive claims of theographic propositions.
Misreadings of theographic propositions, which may lead to distortion
of the original communicative intent (or even to heresy) may
be traced back to misapplication of dualistic, interactive metaphor
logic. The ability to operate with this logic is viewed as part
of communicative competence in religious communication, which
in turn is assimilated with Language for Specific Purposes involving
reference to a belief system from which apparently deviant or
logically odd propositions derive their meaning(fulness). A taxonomy
of interpretation errors (literalist, mimetic,...) is proposed.
"Misreadings in Theographic Communication", in: Baghdikian,
S., van Noppen J.-P. & Schenkel, D.: Brussels Preprints
in Linguistics 8. Brussels, ULB/VUB, 1983, pp. 71-88.
Failure to interpret theographic propositions correctly can
be explained in terms of misconstruction of the metaphor logic
governing much religious discourse. A taxonomy of interpretation
errors (literalist, mimetic, ...) is proposed.
"La traduction de la métaphore et quelques hypothèses
sur la mesure de l'équivalence", in: Baghdikian, S.,
van Noppen J.-P. & Schenkel, D.: Brussels Preprints in
Linguistics 8. Brussels, ULB/VUB, 1983, pp. 59-70.
Until recently little theoretical attention has been paid
to the translation of metaphor. Various possibilities can be
found along a continuum ranging from total translatability to
total untranslatability. Creative use of metaphor in the target
language may have to be tested for equivalence with the source
language metaphor. A method is suggested, based on Osgood's semantic
association.
"L'identification linguistique de la métaphore",
in: Tendances actuelles dans l'étude de la métaphore
(Brussels Preprints in Linguistics, 9). Brussels, ULB/VUB,
1985, pp. 57-64. Repr. in: La métaphore dans la pensée
actuelle. Liège, Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres
(Faculté Ouverte, série langues et littératures
du domaine germanique, E 10), février 1985, pp. 12-16.
Dutch version : "Metafoor: een moeilijk te definiëren
taalfenomeen", in: R. Willemyns (ed.): Brussels Boeket.
Liber Amicorum A. van Loey. Brussel, V.U.B., 1985, pp. 175-186.
Review of the main attempts at definition of metaphor in terms
of linguistic deviance.
"La métaphore comme outil heuristique", in:
La métaphore dans la pensée actuelle. Liège,
Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres (Faculté Ouverte,
série langues et littératures du domaine germanique,
E 10), février 1985, pp. 17-23.
Metaphor is often used in an attempt (unwitting in children,
deliberate in science and theology) to define the unknown in
terms of the familiar.
"In and Beyond the Glossary, or On Making Maps Out of
Puzzles", in: Debusscher, G. & van Noppen, J.-P. (eds.):
Communiquer et Traduire/Communicating and Translating. Hommages
à Jean Dierickx. Bruxelles, Editions de l'U.L.B., 1985,
pp. 165-174.
A metaphor theory of religious discourse may be used to explain
its nonliteral mode of reference, and thus avoid the indictment
of obscurantism. Linguistic training of divinity students should
draw attention to metaphor and speech act theory.
"Religieuze woordenschat en religieuze betekenis",
in: Decreus, F. & Vandamme, F. (eds.): Mythe, Taal en Religie.
Feestbundel voor R. Thibau. Gent, Rijksuniversiteit, 1986,
pp. 315-328.
ESP teaching should transcend the level of strictly linguistic
description in order to account for the extralinguistic frameworks
from which the propositions in a given discipline derive their
meaning as well as their specificity. In this effort, the model
of metaphor logic may be useful. The meaning of metaphorical
propositions is determined by the Christian belief system, which
provides the root metaphors allowing meaningful interpretation.
"Metapher und Religion", in: Erinnern, um Neues
zu sagen. Die Bedeutung der Metapher für die religiöse
Sprache, Herausgegeben von J.P. van Noppen. Frankfurt/Main,
Athenäum Verlag, 1988, pp. 7-51.
If, according to the corollaries of the interaction view,
metaphor is no longer viewed as an expendable ornament, but as
a genuine means of expanding the resources of available human
language through which the gap between the known and the unknown
is bridged, it allows man to speak about realities which cannot
be discussed appropriately in univocal terms, and yet to be understood.
Human discourse about God or matters divine is defined as responding
to such a logic transcending the limits of univocity. The notion
of significant self-contradiction in metaphor theory accords
remarkably well with the concept of meaningful non-propositionality
encountered in the delineation of religious discourse.
"In als theographische Metapher", in: Erinnern,
um Neues zu sagen. Die Bedeutung der Metapher für die religiöse
Sprache, Herausgegeben von J.P. van Noppen. Frankfurt/Main,
Athenäum Verlag, 1988, pp. 200-217.
Religious language operates with ordinary terms in extraordinary
uses. The meanings of these terms are to be situated within a
system of biblical and doctrinal presuppositions. This operation,
as van Noppen illustrates, may require these meanings to be detached
from their everyday cultural or individual connotations and to
be charged with a meaning not immediately or integrally inferrable
from "ordinary" language use, but accessible via exegetic
and hermeneutic investigation. The preposition "in"
as used in theographic discourse may be misinterpreted when understood
in the "ordinary", i.e. geometrical perspective. Meanings
of propositions like «God is in -» or «- is
in God» are analysed.
"Metaphors", in: J.S. Petöfi & T. Olivi
(eds.): Von der verbalen Konstitution zur symbolischen Bedeutung/From
Verbal Constitution to Symbolic Meaning. Hamburg, Helmut Buske
Verlag (Papiere zur Textlinguistik/Papers in Text Linguistics),
1988, pp. 114-152.
Overview of philosophical and linguistic approaches to metaphor
until Lakoff & Johnson 1980. With selective bibliography.
"Searle, Grice and Pinter: A Grammar of Non-Communication
?", in: Michel, P. & Lee, E. (eds.): Papers of the
Belgian Association of Anglicists in Higher Education (BAAHE)
1988-89. Liège, Université de Liège,
Département d'Anglais, 1989, pp. 75-86.
At a prima facie level, characters in Pinter's plays fail
to communicate or to achieve conversational cooperation as defined
by Grice's cooperative principles. This "optimistic"
view of language, however, is not universally applicable. Pinter's
characters manage to communicate quite effectively their desire
to keep to themselves; and their "mis-communication"
is often easier to achieve than the prototypical successful exchanges.
"Fides Quaerens Verbum Hodiernum: Alternative Creeds and
Speech Acts", in: Tonkin, H. & Armstrong Keef, A. (eds.):
Language in Religion (Papers of the Center for Research
and Documentation on World Language Problems, 1). Lanham:
University Press of America, 1990, pp. 67-77.
Alternative creeds are problematic if they are understood
as essentially representative, normative speech acts. While creeds
do sometimes fulfil this function, they may, on other occasions,
be viewed as illocutionary expressives or commissives which do
not necessarily require integral underrstanding of, or adhesion
to, all the propositions at the locutionary level. The Protestant
and Roman Catholic attitudes to this phenomenon differ widely.
"Libre examen et protestantisme", in: Boudin, H.R.
(ed.): Analecta Theologiae Facultatis Bruxellensis II: 1967-1985.
Bruxelles, Société d'Histoire du Protestantisme
belge (Etudes Historiques, 9), 1988, pp. 39-51.
The question of whether a Christian can honestly adhere to
the principle of Free Inquiry honoured at the Free Universities
of Brussels cannot be dealt with satisfactorily in a two-valued
division into believers and non-believers. A possible synthesis
will first posit the individual's freedom of thought, and allow
the believer to pursue his/her quest for existential truth and
meaning through recourse to scripture; but this quest supposes
a constant, and uncomfortable, hermeneutical approach, which
(unlike fundamentalism) refuses to assimilate the message with
a single, time-bound formulation. The truth-hypothesis must subsequently
be verified in the believer's life; though here, the verification
process remains individual, and (unlike scientific experiments)
impossible to replicate and difficult to share. Belief, then,
remains a personal, albeit not an arbitrary, choice to pursue
one's quest about the ultimate meaning of life in a worldview-conditioned
perspective.
Click here to download the text (in
French)
How to Do Things with Metaphor - La pratique de la métaphore.
Special Issue, Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire, LXVIII
(1990) n° 3, ed. J.-P. van Noppen.
The questions which metaphor research has asked itself are
revelatory both of the scientific climate and of the advances
made. A general consensus on the nature and mechanisms of metaphor
has not yet been reached, but the evolution from the ornamental
to the constructivist view of metaphor has opened up new perspectives.
The time has come to define the practical insights which metaphor
research may contribute to the progress of science and humanity.
Now that metaphor has been raised to the status of a fundamental
category in thought and language, allowing people to structure
and cope with the reality in which they live and move, now that
many of its mechanisms have been identified and described, the
question arises of the use to which these insights can be put,
and on the manner in which this recent understanding of metaphor
may cast a new light on both human and academic problems. The
papers at this conference reflect on the question of how present-day
scholarship can reap the fruits of the last few decades' advances
in metaphor research, on whether metaphor produces suggestive
hypotheses about standing problems, on whether people can be
given training in creating new metaphors to see old problems
in a new perspective, on the possible risks involved in resorting
to metaphoric communication, and on paths which metaphor research
should follow to meet present and future needs.
"Interpretation Fallacies in Theographic Communication",
in: C. Wassermann, R.Kirby & B. Rordorf (eds.): The Science
and Theology of Information. Genève: Labor et Fides
(Publications de la Faculté de Théologie de l'Université
de Genève, 16), 1991, pp. 142-148.
Misreadings of theographic propositions, which may lead to
distortion of the original communicative intent (or even to heresy)
may be traced back to misapplication of dualistic, interactive
metaphor logic. A taxonomy of interpretation errors (literalist,
mimetic, ...) is proposed.
"Métaphore et Maison : Structure, Texture et Culture",
in : W. Euchner, F. Rigotti & P. Schiera (Hg.): Il potere
delle immagini : la metafora politica in prospettiva storica /
Die Macht der Vorstellungen. Die politische Metapher in historischer
Perspektive. Bologna : il Mulino / Berlin : Duncker &
Humblot (Jahrbuch des deutschen-italienischen historischen
Instituts zu Trients / Annali dell'istituto storico italo-tedesco
di Trento ) 1993, pp. 309-326.
Gorbachev's metaphor of the Common European House has an appeal
based on textural associations (Cf. Bollnow, Bachelard, Eliade)
but is used in (notably, German) newspapers as an opinion-shaping
device based on structural, architectural analogies (rooms, walls,
etc.). In the Belgian press, the metaphor seems to have "died"
already, and to have become a substitute phrase for European
East/West détente and disarmament. (The paper opens with
a model allowing to define how different classical and contemporary
studies on metaphor are interrelated.)
"Espace, Ciel et Terre : Les métaphores qui forment
et déforment", in : F. Rigotti & P. Schiera (Hg.):
Aria, terra, acqua, fuoco : i quattro elementi e le loro metafore
/ Luft, Erde, Wasser, feuer : die vier Elemente und ihre Metaphern.
Bologna : il Mulino / Berlin : Duncker & Humblot (Jahrbuch
des deutschen-italienischen historischen Instituts zu Trients
/ Annali dell'istituto storico italo-tedesco di Trento ) 1996,
pp. 65-78.
Descriptive theology («theography») frequently
resorts to metaphorical modes of meaning. Among these metaphors,
the spatial language of localization and orientation plays an
important role to delineate tentative insights into the relationship
between the human and the divine.
These spatial metaphors are presumably based on the universal
human experience of interaction between the body and its environment.
It is dangerous, however, to postulate universal agreement on
meanings associated with spatial dimensions and directions, especially
in the diachronic and transcultural situation of the Scriptures.
Biblical and doctrinal theography offer two different views of
space (an «experiential» and a «rational»
one) which are not necessarily incompatible, but which reflect
two different perspectives with different corollaries.
Measurement of metaphorical meanings associated with different
theographic utterances shows that certain spatial dimensions (here:
height) may have lost some of their popular appeal and suggestive
power (at least to a hypothetical 'secularized' audience), but
the substitution of alternative spatial imagery (here: depth)
does not allow to retrieve or replace allegedly 'lost' dimensions
of meaning.
"Language, Space and Theography : the Case of Height
vs.Depth", in : R. Dirven & M. Pütz (Hg.)
: The Construal of Space in Language and Thought (Cognitive
Linguistics Research, 8). Berlin/N.Y., Mouton de Gruyter,
1996, pp. 679-690.
Descriptive theology («theography») frequently
resorts to metaphorical modes of meaning. Among these metaphors,
the spatial language of localization and orientation plays an
important role to delineate tentative insights into the relationship
between the human and the divine.
These spatial metaphors are presumably based on the universal
human experience of interaction between the body and its environment.
It is dangerous, however, to postulate universal agreement on
meanings associated with spatial dimensions and directions, especially
in the diachronic and diacultural situation of the Scriptures.
Biblical and doctrinal theography offer two different views of
space (an «experiential» and a «rational»
one) which are not necessarily incompatible, but which reflect
two different perspectives with different corollaries.
Measurement of metaphorical meanings associated with different
theographic utterances shows that certain spatial dimensions
(here: height) may have lost some of their popular appeal and
suggestive power (at least to a hypothetical 'secularized' audience),
but the substitution of alternative spatial imagery (here: depth)
does not allow to retrieve or replace allegedly 'lost' dimensions
of meaning.
"Proxemics, Discourse, and Literature", in : G. Debusscher
& M. Maufort (eds.) : Union in Partition : Essays in Honour
of Jeanne Delbaere). Liège : L3, 1997, pp. 25-33.
Literary fiction is not a true picture of the human condition;
but it does provide a corpus in which a number of linguistic
and social modes of behaviour can be conveniently observed. It
is possible to establish correlations between descriptions of
interpersonal distance and position on the one hand, and the
content of dialogue on the other. One might envisage the existence
of "space acts" just as we have "speech acts",
each with their own range of lexical items.
"Theographie, Metaphertheorie und ihre Interpretationsfehler",
in: Linguistica Biblica (Bonn) 44 (1979), pp. 71-100.
The model of metaphor logic constitutes a more satisfactory
delineation of the workings of descriptive theological («theographic»)
statements than the more classical attempts (literalness, revelation,
analogy, ...). Misreadings of theographic propositions, which
may lead to distortion of the original communicative intent may
be traced back to misapplication of dualistic, interactive metaphor
logic. A taxonomy of interpretation errors (literalist, mimetic,
...) is proposed.
"A Method for the Evaluation of Recipient Response",
in: Technical Papers for the Bible Translator (Aberdeen)
30 (1979) n° 3, pp. 301-318.
Report on a small-scale socio-semantic survey in which theographic
statements are correlated with theological categories through
semantic association. The response to metaphorical propositions
can be measured by means of semantic differential scaling procedures.
"Théographie, métaphore et erreurs d'interprétation"
in: Revue des Langues Vivantes (Liège) XLV (1979)
n° 1, pp. 7-28.
The model of metaphor logic constitutes a more satisfactory
delineation of the workings of descriptive theological («theographic»)
statements than the more classical attempts (literalness, revelation,
analogy, ...). Misreadings of theographic propositions, which
may lead to distortion of the original communicative intent may
be traced back to misapplication of dualistic, interactive metaphor
logic. A taxonomy of interpretation errors (literalist, mimetic,
...) is proposed.
"The Cognitive and Heuristic Status of Metaphor in Child
Language, Science and Religion", in: Tijdschrift van de
V.U.B. 22 (1981) n° 1, pp. 115-122.
Metaphor is often used in an attempt (unwitting in children,
deliberate in science and theology) to define the unknown in
terms of the familiar.
"The Interpretation of Novel Metaphors in Context",
in: Tijdschrift van de V.U.B. 22 (1981) n° 1, pp. 123-127.
Critique of Bruce Fraser's "Interpretation of Novel Metaphors"
in Ortony 1979. Eliciting interpretation of metaphors in "langue"
outside a communicative context ("parole") is an artificial
academic exercise.
"Les crédos alternatifs à la lumière
de la théorie des actes discursifs", in: Foi et
Langage (Paris) VI (1982) n° 2, pp. 119-127.
Alternative creeds are problematic if they are understood
as essentially representative, normative speech acts. While creeds
do sometimes fulfil this function, they may, on other occasions,
be viewed as illocutionary expressives or commissives which do
not necessarily require integral underrstanding of, or adhesion
to, all the propositions at the locutionary level. the Protestant
and Roman Catholic attitudes to this phenomenon differ widely.
"A Metaphorological Delineation of Theographic Expression,
Interpretation and Errors of Interpretation", in: Communication
and Cognition (Gand) XVI (1983) n° 4, pp. 439-464.
The model of metaphor logic constitutes a more satisfactory
delineation of the workings of descriptive theological («theographic»)
statements than the more classical attempts (literalness, revelation,
analogy, ...). Misreadings of theographic propositions, which
may lead to distortion of the original communicative intent may
be traced back to misapplication of dualistic, interactive metaphor
logic. A taxonomy of interpretation errors (literalist, mimetic,
...) is proposed.
(with N. Vandroogenbroeck) "The Delight of Deliberate
Deviance", in: Annales Universitatis Budapestiniensis
(Sectio Linguistica) (Budapest) XVIII (1988), pp. 383-394.
While in actual linguistic interaction, failure to respect
language rules may cause irritation or a breakdown in communication,
in fiction the characters' linguistic clumsiness is entertaining.
Examples are culled from Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Agatha Christie
(Hercule Poirot) and Malcolm Bradbury (Rates of Exchange)
to show that deliberate deviance from the linguistic norm may
fulfil different functions.
"More Books About Metaphor", in: Revue Belge de
Philologie et d'Histoire (1988) n° 3, 618-645.
Review of R. Dirven & W. Paprotté (eds.): The
Ubiquity of Metaphor (1985); E.R. Mc Cormac.: A Cognitive
Theory of Metaphor (1985); J.M. Soskice: Metaphor and
Religious Language (1985); A. & J. Thompson: Shakespeare:
Meaning and Metaphor; A.N. Judge,: Metaphor (1985-6);
Governance Through Metaphor (1987).
"Fides quaerens verbum hodiernum : les credos alternatifs",
in: Ad Veritatem (FUTP, Bruxelles), n° 31 (1991), pp.
24-42.
In the communal use of creeds (i.e. the act of confessing
one's belief), one may discern various levels of linguistic activity.
Originally, the Christian confessions of faith were essentially
expressive acts; but the exclamations eventually crystallised
into formulas which had the same locutionary force (since the
facts referred to did not change), but which at the illocutionary
level were given the shape of informative representations. The
confessions subsequently came to be adopted as doctrinal propositions,
which acquired a declarative, normative, or even polemical value,
frozen at one stage of their historic evolution, and handed down
to later generations in this stereotyped form: since a Church's
faith is defined through these propositions, a change, however
slight, in the formulations entails the risk of altering the
content and substance of a faith presumed to be immutable. For
at the locutionary level, the creed claims to be the «systematic
and objective repository» of the basic truths on which
the faith is founded, i.e. the detailed (if not literal) description
of the fundamental doctrine; and from this first function derives
the creed's present-day illocutionary force. In the Church community,
however, the creed plays a role of praise and worship in the
liturgical context, but also functions as the local community's
act of adhesion to the Church at large. The individual believers
reciting their creed affirm their allegiance to the Church as
well as their obedience. As the main emphasis thus shifts from
locutionary content towards illocutionary function,
the uncritical believers may actually adhere to the Church faith
without understanding all the creed's (locutionary) terms, trusting
that Church authorities will be able to elucidate its propositions
at the locutionary level.
Alternative creeds are problematic if they are understood as
essentially representative, normative speech acts. The Protestant
and Roman Catholic attitudes to this phenomenon differ widely.
"ETP : Prolegomena to a Course of English for Theological
Purposes", in : RLFE. Revista de Lenguas para Fines Específicos,
(Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) 1 (Mai 1994), pp. 133-50.
The aim of the paper is not to construct a full-fledged ESP
course for theology students, but to draw attention to a number
of problems which arise as soon as one starts giving serious
thought to setting up a syllabus of this type. The requirements
of this particular audience are highly specific indeed: religious
language functions according to rules which clearly demarcate
it from what is usually referred to as «ordinary»
language use. If the student is taught the terminology but does
not learn how to operate with these different modalities of meaning
and use from which religious discourse derives its meaning in
religious situations, then he or she has no access to the register.
Parameters like metaphor logic and illocutionary force must be
built into the ETP course.
"Spatial Theography", in : RLFE. Revista de Lenguas
para Fines Específicos, (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria)
2 (1995), pp. 125-138.
Descriptive theology («theography») frequently
resorts to metaphorical modes of meaning. Among these metaphors,
the spatial language of localization and orientation plays an
important role to delineate tentative insights into the relationship
between the human and the divine. These spatial metaphors are
presumably based on the universal human experience of interaction
between the body and its environment. It is dangerous, however,
to postulate universal agreement on meanings associated with
spatial dimensions and directions, especially in the diachronic
and diacultural situation of the Scriptures. Biblical and doctrinal
theography offer two different views of space (an «experiential»
and a «rational» one) which are not necessarily incompatible,
but which reflect two different perspectives with different corollaries.
Measurement of metaphorical meanings associated with different
theographic utterances shows that certain spatial dimensions
(here: height) may have lost some of their popular appeal and
suggestive power (at least to a hypothetical 'secularized' audience),
but the substitution of alternative spatial imagery (here: depth)
does not allow to retrieve or replace allegedly 'lost' dimensions
of meaning.
"Methodist Discourse and Industrial Work Ethic : A Critical
Theolinguistic Approach", in Revue Belge de Philologie
et d'Histoire 73 (1995) n° 3, pp. 693-714.
The critics' stereotype represents Methodism as an
oppressive, reactionary discourse forced upon illiterate audiences
by insidious rhetorical devices. The guiding hypothesis which
underlies such analyses seems to be that the success of Methodism,
if any, was not a natural and voluntary response to a religious
appeal, but the effect of a deliberate, manipulative process
which cynically sought to trick people into a belief system which
conditioned their world-view and behaviour patterns, allegedly
on behalf of industrial interests which required an obedient
and submissive work force.
A critical, corpus-based analysis shows that Wesley's discourse
did contain the seeds of a work ethic which lay the message open
to misunderstanding and misuse in post-Wesleyan Methodism; but
the Methodist revival as a whole cannot be indicted with intentional
manipulation of the working masses.
"Le cantique méthodiste: une approche historique
et stylistique", in Bulletin de la Société
Royale d'Histoire du Protestantisme Belge n° 123
(décembre 1999), pp. 27-42.
"The
English Hymn : A Discourse Perspective" in BELL. Papers
of the Belgian Association of Anglicists in Higher Education (BAAHE)
. Liège: L3, 2001 .
Hymns have substantially contributed to the success of the
Methodist revival. John Wesley discovered that in addition to
their function in worship services, hymns could play an educational
role in the spiritual training of an otherwise unschooled audience.
His message of love and hope was here given a palatable and memorizable
form, supported by skilful stylistic, rhythmic and metrical choices.
Diverging opinions on the literary and linguistic value of the
hymns indicate a wide variety of texts. A systematic investigation
of the hymn corpus shows that the critics who censure the hymns
as a form of linguistic manipulation base themselves on too partial
a sample.
"Le discours méthodiste: une analyse critique de
contenu", in Revue Belge de Réflexion Protestante
n° 3 (1999), pp. 13-39.
Critical assessment of the theological bases, evangelical
economy and work ethic of John Wesley. The study seeks to (at
least partly) redeem Wesley from the indictments of being a lackey
of capitalist industrialism - an accusation based on a partial
selection of examples, which fails to acknowledge 1) Wesley's
negative attitude towards wealth, 2) his programme of social
sharing and 3) the success of the movement. The political
aspects of Wesley's message have been studied elsewhere (in Transforming Words (1999)
and a PALA conference paper at Potchefstroom University,
RSA, 1999).
S'en Sortir: Hommage à Roger Goffin. Hg. E. Schmatz
& J.P. van Noppen. Bruxelles, Equivalences
27/2 et 28/1 (2000)
E. Schmatz und J.-P. van Noppen Vorwort
J. Dierickx : Portrait Oblique
R. Arntz: Zur Bedeutung der Terminologiearbeit für
die weniger verbreiteten Sprachen Europas
H. Bühler: Translatologie und Terminologie (Begriffs-felder,
Definitionen, Bezeichnungen)
A. Clas: Un modèle de création terminologique
en chimie: la brachygraphie
Ph. De Brabanter: A metalinguistic view of Rushdie's «stammering
puns» in the Satanic Verses
S. De Vriendt: L'interprétation en langue des signes
J. Dierickx: Style et pronoms. A propos de la version
anglaise des Éblouissements
A. Dussart: La traductologie et la traduction technique ou
scientifique
J.-H. Michel: Traduire ... Propos d'un latiniste
Chr. Peeters: Germanische Etyma neuhochdeutscher Wörter
E. Schmatz: Die Terminologie des Vordruckswesens
C. Schmitt: Zum Problem der falsos gemelos beim
translatorischen Handeln im Sprachenpaar Deutsch-Spanisch
J.-P. van Noppen: Prepositional What ? A Little Terminological
Nit-Picking
J. Vromans: Ein Smiley für Roger. Ansätze zu
einer vergleichenden Emotikographie
Publications de Roger Goffin
"Prepositional What ? A Little Terminological Nit-Picking",
in E. Schmatz & J.-P. van Noppen (eds.): S'en Sortir:
Hommage à Roger Goffin. Bruxelles, Equivalences
27/2 et 28/1 (2000), pp. 181-192.
Different grammars give different names to the [prep + NP]
sequence (prepositional complement, prepositional object, prepositional
phrase, preposition-initiated adverbial). While some grammars
offer different names for similar phenomena, others gather different
phenomena under one and the same name. The paper seeks to sort
out the various contradictions, and suggests a routine whereby
a vast majority of examples may be coherently classified.
"Beruf, Calling and the Methodist Work Ethic,"
in I. Heidelberger & M. Tabah (Hg.): Wahlverwandtschaften
in Sprache, Malerei, Literatur, Geschichte. Festschrift für
Monique Boussart.
Max Weber has argued that reformed Christianity has allowed
the growth of a work ethic which views work as the human response
to a divine Beruf / calling: a point epitomised in Luther's
(1522) and Cranmer's (1539) Bible translations. The paper argues
that the linguistic evidence adduced by Weber and his followers
is more circumstantial than symptomatic, and that neither Lutheranism
nor Wesleyan Methodism charged the terms Beruf / Calling
with overtones that might be regarded as entailing the advocacy
of a «capitalist» spirit.
"La "bonne" servante
: un personnage littéraire méthodiste", in
Bulletin de la Société Royale d'Histoire du Protestantisme
Belge n° 126 (juin 2001), pp. 25-38.
The 18th and 19th century children's literature spread through
the Sunday-school circuits belonged to the moralizing genre,
whereby children were encourage , through the example of fictional
characters, to take their future into their own hands and aspire
to a higher moral and social status, but yet to adopt the "station"
set aside for them by God. Thus, young girls were encouraged
to become servants, a calling which allowed them to enter into
contact with more privileged classes and yet to maintain a position
of subordination and obedience -- an attitude reflecting the
tension between traditional obedience to human and divine authority,
and the more recent propensity towards emancipation of the individual.
The most positive component, however, is the recognition of girls
and women as full-fledged human beings, endowed with independent
judgment and able to make their own choices.
"Le discours méthodiste : instrument d'oppression
ou de libération ?", in Bulletin de la Société
Royale d'Histoire du Protestantisme Belge n° 127 (décembre
2001), pp. 25-32.
"Methodist Discourse: The Voice of Oppression or Liberation
?" in I. Biermann & A. Combrink (eds.): Poetic, Linguistics
and History : Discourses of War and Conflict. PALA Conference
Papers 1999. University of Potchefstroom (South Africa), 2001,
pp. 417-437.
Critics have stereotyped Methodism as an oppressive,
reactionary discourse forced upon illiterate audiences by insidious
rhetorical devices. The guiding hypothesis which underlies such
analyses seems to be that the success of Methodism, if any, was
not a natural and voluntary response to a religious appeal, but
the effect of a deliberate, manipulative process which cynically
sought to trick people into a belief system which conditioned
their world-view and behaviour patterns, allegedly on behalf
of industrial interests which required an obedient and submissive
work force.
The investigation of the workings of Methodist discourse in its
many textualised and non-textualised aspects allows one to understand
the widespread popular impact of the movement in both linguistic
and extralinguistic terms. The discourse analysis which constitutes
the bulk of this study shows that Methodism in its early Wesleyan
stage was remarkably efficient in providing a multi-modal discourse
which managed to reach the working classes and to answer their
needs and aspirations. The widespread popular response to the
message in certain areas may be explained in terms of natural
audience motivation, and there is little if any ground, notwithstanding
Wesley's particular use of language and his explicitly conservative
attitude, to hypothesize a deliberate manipulative socio-political
intent on the part of the Wesleyans.
Théographies.
Une collection d'essais et de textes. Bruxelles, P.U.B., mars
2004.
 |
1. "Théographies : Quand le
langage humain est mis au service de Dieu"
2.
"Dieu notre [Mère et] Père ? Quelques remarques
en marge d'une adaptation récente de la Bible"
3. "Protestantisme et libre examen" (cliquez ici pour télécharger
le texte)
4. "Fides quaerens verbum hodiernum
: les credos alternatifs"
5. "Le discours
méthodiste : une analyse critique du contenu" (cliquez ici pour télécharger
le texte)
6. "Le cantique méthodiste:
une approche historique et stylistique" (cliquez
ici pour télécharger le texte)
7.
"La Bible, notre pain quotidien ?"
8.
"Le Réveil des Mots : Lire Wesley avec l'ordinateur
et avec le coeur" (cliquez
ici pour voir le texte)
9. Liste des publications
sur la théolinguistique. |
Université Libre de Bruxelles,
Homepages Membres Corps Académique.
