The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism

For years scholars of biblical poetry have defined parallelism as the simple correspondence of one verse, phrase, or word with another. In this book,
Adele Berlin approaches biblical parallelism as a linguistic phenomenon, as a complex interplay among all aspects of language. Her goal is to get at the basics of what biblical parallelism is and how it works. Berlin's examination of the grammatical, lexical, semantic, phonetic, structural, and psychological aspects of parallelism yields an elegantly simple model that reveals the complex workings of this phenomenon. Her book will be a valuable guide for both scholars and students of biblical poetry.

For years scholars of biblical poetry have defined parallelism as the simple correspondence of one verse, phrase, or word with another. In this study, Adele Berlin approaches biblical parallelism as a linguistic phenomenon, and as a complex interplay among all aspects of language. She examines the grammatical, lexical, semantic, phonetic, structural, and psychological aspects of parallelism.

Adele Berlin is Robert H. Smith Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Maryland. The author of three biblical commentaries and Biblical Poetry through Medieval Jewish Eyes, she is also coeditor of The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford), which received a National Jewish Book Award in 2004.