Comments on Andrew Hollingsworth’s Paper (2016) Ecos of Meaning

By Razie Mah

In Ecos of Meaning: Umberto Eco’s Semiotic Theory for Theological Hermeneutics (2016), theologian Andrew Hollingsworth seeks a clearer definition of “meaning”.
He hopes that Eco’s exposition, A Theory of Semiotics, does the trick.
Key terms include: sign, text, authorial intent and reader significance.
These terms may be associated to category-based nested forms, producing an image of Eco’s cultural unit. Code fits into the diagram, illuminating the different natures of denotation and connotation.
Sign production is not so simple, since there are two actualities, sign and text.
For the former, Eco’s cultural unit combines the content and situation levels. It contains a situation-level sign-object. It assumes an unchallenged perspective level.
The triadic sign within Eco’s cultural unit operates according to formal extrinsic specificative causality.
For the latter, the author projects a sign-object into the perspective level, generating a triadic sign that operates according to formal extrinsic exemplar causality. This type of sign combines situation and perspective levels.
Hollingsworth uses Paul’s letter to the Galatians 4:21-31 as an example of hermeneutics in scripture. Close readings of this text exemplify current hermeneutics. This passage is examined using the above category-based models. As author, Paul changes the perspective level during his argument.
In sum, Hollingsworth searches for a way to appreciate the word “meaning”. His use of Eco is a beginning. The category-based nested form re-articulates Eco’s semiotic terms. Reader meaning explicitly appears as a situation-level potential. Hermeneutics is inquiry into this potential.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Razie Mah
• Release date: Feb 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781942824305

Razie Mah

See website for bio.

Book preview

Comments on Andrew Hollingsworth’s Presentation (2016) Ecos of Meaning

By Razie Mah

Published for Smashwords.com

2017

Notes on Text

This essay comments on a presentation by Andrew Hollingsworth to the Annual Meeting of the 2016 Evangelical Theological Society. The title of the paper is Ecos of Meaning: Umberto Eco’s Semiotic Theory for Theological Hermeneutics. The paper is available on academia.edu.

My goal is to re-articulate this argument in the specialized language of the category-based nested form.

‘Words that belong together’ are denoted by single quotes or italics.

Table of Contents

Introduction 0001

Models of Meaning 0003

Umberto Eco’s Formulation 0011

Charles Peirce’s Formulation 0037

This Is Not a Joke 0055

Case Study of Galatians 4:21-31 0083

Conclusion 0111

Introduction

0001 Words are problematical. What is the meaning of a word?

0002 Andrew Hollingsworth, graduate of Mississippi College (B.A.) and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (M.A.), applies Umberto Eco’s semiotic theory to theological hermeneutics. As an example, he examines Paul’s letter to the Galatians 4:21-31.

Models of Meaning

0003 Hollingsworth brings to the fore four terms: sign, text, authorial intent and reader significance.

0004 This is all I need to start, along with two introductory works: A Primer on the Category-Based Nested Form and A Primer on Sensible and Social Construction.

I associate these four words to slots appearing in a two level interscope characteristic of