Δίψυχος: Moving beyond Intertextuality

Abstract

Investigation into the origins of the rare compound δίψυχος and cognate forms has been dominated by intertextual methodologies. With a sole focus upon issues of literary dependency, previous scholarship has attempted to trace the neologism to a specific text or author. Such an approach is misguided, given the inherent methodological difficulties of establishing the direction of borrowing between texts of uncertain dates, as well as the tenuous historical record for the attestation of the lexeme. Moving away from intertextuality, in this article it is suggested that recent advances in the study of lexical formation, including translational compounding and prototype lexical semantics, present themselves as a more productive avenue of enquiry.

Shades of faith: the phenomenon of doubt in early Christianity

“…11.Recently, List (2021) opted for ‘a turn away from intertextual methodology towards the study of etymology’ (103f. ), though both approaches could be mutually illuminating.…”

What Justification? Pauline Reception and the Interpretation of Phld. 8.2

“…I have maintained the masculine pronoun in translation solely for the purpose of mimicking the syntactical features of the Greek phrase as closely as possible. On double-mindedness, see List (2021) and the literature cited therein. 31 Leavenworth (2022, p. 40, n. 115) concludes similarly regarding both the translation of the infinitive and the role of prayer: "By reiterating the essential elements of his gospel message, Ignatius asked his readers to pray that he 'be exonerated' (δικαιωθῆναι) of the charge of disseminating an unscriptural gospel message".…”