Robert Boyle on Language: Some Considerations Touching the Style of the Holy Scriptures

R o b e r t B o y le o n L a n g u a g e :ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Som e C on sid eration s T ouching the Style of th e H oly Scrip tu resPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA R O B E R T M A R K L E Y O f all th e scien tific th eorists in or associated w ith th e R oyal Society d u ring its form ative years, R obert B oyle w as p robably the m ost keenly in terested in th e p roblem s of lan gu age, style, an d rep resen tation . H is p refaces to O c c a s io n a l R e fle c t io n s (1665) and T h e C h r is t ia n V ir t u o s o (1690) in clu d e lon g d efen ses of h is u se of figu rative lan gu age; an d in both w orks h e argu es stron gly again st th e stylistic p rescrip tivism th at d om in ates th e rh etoric of later sev en teen th -cen tu ry lin gu istic th eory.1 B oyle's fu llest exp osition of h is often com p lex view s on lan gu age, h ow ever, occu rs in h is w id e-ran gin g d efen se of biblical style, S o m e C o n s id e r a t io n s T o u c h in g t h e S t y le o f t h e H o ly S c r ip t u r e s (1661).2 In th is im p ortan t bu t little-kn ow n w ork, B oyle u n d ertakes w h at h e sees as a set of in tegrally related tasks: d efen d in g both th e style an d th e au ­ th ority of th e B ible, ju stify in g h is ow n stylistic view s, an d tryin g to accou n t for w h at in h is m in d is th e p arad oxical n atu re of lan gu age— its existen ce as both a tem p oral in stru m en t an d an atem p oral id eal. In th is resp ect, S t y le o f t h e S c r ip t u r e s is an extrem ely am bitiou s, if d if­ ficu lt, w ork— p art d efen se of th e B ible, p art stylistic m an ifesto, an d p art testam en t to th e au th or's ow n sp iritu al qu est for salvation .3 For B oyle, th e essen tial lin gu istic q u estion s are alw ays th ose of re­ ligiou s celebration : in w h at lan gu age sh ou ld on e w orsh ip ? w h at lan ­ gu age m ost fu lly d em on strates a sin cere d evotion to G od ? T h ese 159 160 / MARKLEYZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA q u estion s are as cru cial to B oyle as th ey are to Isaac N ew ton ; both m en , as "n atu ral p h ilosop h ers," d evote a good d eal of energy to trying to d evelop an id eal m eth od of rep resen tation th at accu rately d e­ scribes th e p h en om en a of natu re and d em onstrates, rather th an sim p ly alleges, th e p erfection of G od 's u n iv erse.4 In QPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA S t y le o f t h e S c r ip t u r e s , h ow ever, B oyle goes beyon d N ew ton an d m...