TRS – Jeyoon Park

At this week’s Theological Research Seminar, Jeyoon Park will be presenting, “A Linguistic Fortress against Heresy: The Constructive Strategies of the Creed of Nicaea (325)’”

Read the abstract and his bio below.

All are welcome to attend in Camelford Hall (room 226) at McMaster Divinity College at 1:00pm or via livestream at the link below:

Join the Livestream
Password: z00m (Note that the password has zeros rather than “o”)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the linguistic construction strategies inherent in the Creed of Nicaea (325) by applying the Opentext model, grammatical metaphor, and appraisal theory from Systemic Functional Linguistics. The Nicaea text is divided into a ‘confessional section’ and an ‘anathema section’. The former establishes doctrine as an objective entity through nominalization and builds a singular authority (monogloss) with positive appraisal language, while the latter directly quotes the voices of heretics (heterogloss), reduces them to a matter of contention, and explicitly rejects them with negative appraisal. In conclusion, it argues that the Creed of Nicaea is more than a simple declaration of faith, but a ‘linguistic fortress’ sophisticatedly designed to defend traditional doctrine and effectively neutralize heretical challenges.

Bio

Jeyoon Park is a second-year PhD student in NT at MDC. He is interested in Christology, the Kingdom of God and covenant, and linguistic methodologies. My goal is to serve the church as a sound Bible teacher and scholar. I live with my wife and newborn baby in downtown Hamilton.

About TRS

The MDC Theological Research Seminar (TRS) is a bimonthly gathering for all MDC students and faculty. TRS meets from 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM on alternating Mondays, and includes about thirty minutes for the paper presentation and twenty minutes for discussion.

All advanced degree students are invited to present a paper and share your research with your colleagues. TRS is an excellent opportunity to “test drive” a paper you will be presenting at an upcoming conference and receive helpful feedback on your current research projects. Thinking about submitting an article to a journal and want some interaction first? TRS will provide it. Just published an article or an essay and want to share it us? TRS is an excellent opportunity to broadcast it.

This year the organizing committee consists of Dr. James Dvorak, Dr. Phil Zylla, and Dr. Gord Heath. To submit a paper, contact a member of the organizing committee.