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Document Details : Title: Authority and the Authoritativeness of Scripture Subtitle: Some Clues from the Dead Sea Scrolls Author(s): BROOKE, George J. Journal: Revue de Qumran Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Date: numéro 100, 2012 Pages: 507-523 DOI: 10.2143/RQ.25.4.3206341 Abstract : This essay suggests that the authority of texts has to be construed on the basis of at least three complementary facets of textual study and analysis. First, there is the text itself. By considering the six-part, triple-axis dynamic of compositions as indicated in actantial analysis this study identifies some of the features of any text that might be construed as authoritative: this might be suitably labelled as 'actantial authority'. Second, there is the interdependence of author and audience, through which authority is encouraged and endorsed; this can be called 'authorial and audience authority'. Third, there is the function of the text in different settings and contexts: authority might be discerned in everything contextual such as the artefactual data of the manuscript evidence, the possible effectiveness of the text as speech-act, and the much wider ideological frame of reference that makes a composition relevant for any particular group or community: this can be named as 'acted authority'. Thus authority in texts, both scriptural and non-scriptural, is a polyphonous affair. |
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