Circular Rhetoric and Logic of Paradox

In the early twentieth century, Russell pioneered the formal study of paradox in logic. Understanding the cause of the paradoxes, the proposed remedy was to avoid any circular logic or to treat any circular logic as invalid. Following this scholarly trend, the study of biblical paradox has been one of the most controversial and confusing areas in contemporary biblical scholarship for the latter half of the twentieth century. However, a renewed interest has ensued due to the innovative approach pioneered by Kripke in the study of paradox and circularity. This paper presents and explores this new paradigm to facilitate an understanding of the paradoxes of circularity and various circular constructs in the Bible. The selected examples in this paper include three paradoxes in Matthew 22:15–46, the Liar paradox in Titus 1:12, the divine “I am” sayings in Exodus 3:14, the circular indwelling relationships in John 14:10–11, and two proof methods in John 8:12–20. One proof method in John 8:12–20 is distinctively selfreferential to the validation of a personal claim to be the light of the world. The approach of this paper is computational, providing a key to understanding circular rhetoric and paradoxes in the Bible. Acknowledgments: This paper is the extension of the papers presented at Society of Biblical Literature – International Meeting 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, ETS SWR 2014, and ETS 2014. The author acknowledges Gopal Gupta (University of Texas at Dallas) for his support and guide to coinductive logic research, and JayHoon Yang (Hyupsung University) for this research and collaboration, along with Paul Miller at Gramcord, Katy Barnwell at Wycliffe, Moses (HyunGu) Kim and Byung-Gyun Lee at Ko-Mex (Korea-Mexico) Mission Ministry for my teaching and research in Matthew and John, Ho-Sik Kim at Washington Baptist Seminary and University, Carl F. H. Henry for my study in John and Christian Philosophy, E. Earle Ellis for my New Testament Study, Richard Crawford at First Baptist Church of Richardson for my teaching in John and paradox, Keith Bernett, Cathy Drewry, and Mark Critchley for their editorial support, In-Gyun Oh at Hanuri Church, Jung-O Kim at Dallas Eastern Presbyterian Church, and Sam Underwood at FBC Farmers Branch for their friendship and pastoral support, and especially my wife, Mi Min, with her love, support, critique, and always being my first and best audience. Download from: http://biblicalparadox.wordpress.com