The Topic

Bookresearch
of Daniel- General procedures
- Research Guidelines
Teófilo Correa

General guidelines for Paper Research: (1) Identify the topic for your study (2) What is
in the discussion about your topic in academic [adventists and not adventists] circles.
Who are involved in that discussion? (3) What is the problem about your topic? or what
is the justification for doing this research? (4) How are you going to do the research of
“that” particular topic? (5) What are the primary resources you used doing your re-
search (5) What did you find? (6) How important are that finds for you as a Seventh-
day Adventist? (7) General evaluation (8) The paper should include footnotes.
*Notice: Follow the format and style of AIIAS Research Manual Standards and Writing
Manual.
Morph-syntactic analysis (template)
‫ָקבַץ י ְהוָה אֶת־ ָהעָם‬
Translation [4] Hebrew wo Morphological analysis [2] Root (and meanings)
Hebrew Word rd [1] [3]

gathered ‫קָבַץ‬ Verb Qal Perfect, Third person, ‫" קבץ‬he gathered", "he
Masculine, Singular. assembled people", "he
collected", "he
acquired."1
YHWH ‫יְהוָה‬ Proper noun. ‫ יהוה‬Divine name.2

-- –‫אֶת‬ Sign of direct object

the people ‫הָעָם‬a Definite article + Noun mas. ‫" עַם‬people", "citizen",
sing. absolute. "inhabitant."3

Syntactic analysis [5]: ‫אֶת־ ָהעָם‬ ‫י ְהוָה‬ ‫ָקבַץ‬

Direct Object Subject - Predicate

Textual Witnesses analysis: ‫הָעָם‬a: LXX has ‫ גֹוי‬instead ‫( עָם‬MT). ‫ גֹוי‬is used to refer any
nation of the earth, but mostly ‫ עָם‬is an “exclusive” reference to the nation or the people of
YHWH. We prefer the MT reading.

English translation [7]: YHWH gathered the people

1. David J.A. Clines, "‫"קבץ‬, The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (Sheffield: Sheffield
Phoenix Press, 2009), 387.

2. Ludwing Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, "‫"יהוה‬, The Hebrew and Aramaic of the Old
Testament (Leiden/Cologne/New York: Koninklijke Brill, 1994-2000), 394.

3. William Lee Holladay and Ludwig Köhler, "‫ "עַם‬A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the
Old Testament (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 275.

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 Details for paper research. It should include the following items.
‫א‬. Methodology. At first, you have to mention what topic or verses you are going to
study. α. Why is the purpose of your study. β. How are you going to study that topic/
verse/Hebrew word? or How did you get the results or conclusions? What procedures
have you followed? Please be generous in details.

‫ב‬. General features of the section(s) under study

α. Identify the section where the topic is located. It could be a chapter or an more
broader or smaller section. What is the section about? What are the main topic and the
other sub–topics.
β. Identify the genre of the section.

‫ג‬. Background of the section

α. Sociological/political/religious/cultural/other contexts related to the pericope. In-
clude archaeological contribution if it applies.
β. Ancient Near Eastern related literature to the Biblical Text.

Literary Analysis
Identify the main senteneces/clauses in your section related to your topic.
‫ד‬. Grammatical [Morpho-Syntactical] analysis of main sentences/clauses (see the chart
above)
α. Point out the morphology of main words of the clause. Establish lexemes, including
frequency.
β. Distinguish the function of main words in the sentence (syntax).
γ. Lexical meaning. Conventional meanings of the word. Compare the words in several
Lexicons/Dictionaries.
δ. English version comparison of selected sentences/clauses related to the topic. In-
clude your working translation of the section or sentences/clauses

‫ה‬. Thematic approach (Approach for topics):

α. Divide the topic in different periods in history, or
β. Divide the topic into sub-topics, or
γ. Divide for school of interpretation, or
δ. Divide for contrasting approaches.

‫ו‬. Intertextuality. Is this topic included in other biblical book outside the book of Daniel.
Describe how the topic is appoched in that book.

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‫ז‬. Theology of the section
α. What does the topic is presented in relation to God or how God is presented in rela-
tion to the topic under study? What does the text says about God? What actions of
God are evident in this section/sentence?
β. How does the interpretation of this topic in the book Daniel contribute to the under-
standing the same topic in the entire OT-NT/the entire Bible?
γ. How does the topic in the book of Daniel should be understood in light of the largest
context (the entire Bible)?
δ. How does the text should be understood today?

‫ח‬. Synthesis and conclusions (entire paper)

α. The synthesis should be based on the previous analysis.
β. Conclusions.

Bibliography

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