3.3 The thought of Puritanism implied in the KJV Bible through “and” 8

3.3.1 Introduction of the King James Version of the Bible. 8

3.3.2 Doctrines permeate into the version of KJV Bible. 9

Reference 11

1. Introduction

1.1 Background information

According to Analyzing Prose , the description of “and-then” pattern in this book shows how this pattern and the word “and” influence the syntactic rhythm, semantic meaning and narrative perspective of the prose, which inspired me to do the research on the frequent use of “and”  in Genesis of King James Version of the Bible. The syntactic and semantic features of Bible have been widely researched, but the previous researches have seldom covered conjunctions. “and-then” pattern dramatizes a seesaw rhythm. The “and” connection runs through the prose like a backbone. Parataxis most obviously encourages anaphora, a pattern of similar sentences-openings, which appears frequently in Genesis. The thesis tries to solve these questions: why did the KJV Bible use “and” so frequently, not only between two sentences, but also at the beginning of some sentences or paragraphs, especially in Genesis. And how the use of “and” reflects the sense of Protestantism in the 16-17th century? 

1.2 Researches both at home and abroad

The study of the Bible abroad has been continuing for a long time. And in our country, thanks to the translation of The Bible: A History (Stephen M. Miller & Robert V. Huber), we have a certain understanding of the history of the various versions of the Bible. Even though, both abroad and domestically, Bible studies focus on such works as Institutes of the Christian Religion (John Calvin) and have interpreted the impact of the Bible on Christianity from the aspects of literary and scriptural connotations. However, there are few studies on syntactic and semantic aspects of the KJV Bible. It is even rarer to interpret the Bible from the perspective of “and” in King James Bible. According to the syntactic style of implicative narrative perspective, and the semantic meaning of “and”, my thesis tries to figure out how the translators of the KJV Bible shaped the figure of God as a creator and redeemer, and permeated the thought of Puritanism through the art of “and”. Meanwhile, the narrative art of Bible had been widely studied both at home and abroad, but it was seldom analyzed from the aspect of the flexible conjunction “and”. My thesis also involves narrative art of Bible through the view of “and”. 

2. Syntactic analysis of “and” in Genesis of KJV Bible

2.1 Function of “and” in the beginning of one sentence.

Take Genesis 1 for example,

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, let there be light: and there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God pided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it pide the waters from the waters.

And God made the firmament, and pided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day (Genesis 1:2-8). “and”在钦定版《圣经》创世纪中频繁使用的句法语义分析(2):http://www.chuibin.com/wenxue/lunwen_206489.html