Reconsidering Textual Coherence: Complexity, Unity, and the Historical-Critical Task

Abstract This article draws upon the discipline of linguistics in order to propose refinements to understandings of coherence as typically employed in much biblical interpretation. After arguing in favor of inductive, linguistic definitions of coherence and distinguishing it from cohesion, it examines several examples of biblical interpretation in which conventional understandings of, and criteria for, coherence are employed. Key differences between these two understandings of coherence are then mapped onto prominent trends in analysis of text formation and interpretation in an effort to identify ways that biblical scholars can refine and sharpen their textual analyses through more careful use of coherence.