Command or petition? A speech act analysis of the parents' utterances in John 9:21cd

Abstract

Although speech act theor}r has a great potential for a better understanding of biblical texts, as demonstrated by some excellent published monographs and articles, it has been only occasionally utilised since the introduction of this theory co New Testament scholarship. In this somewhat disappointing situation, the purpose of chis article is to continue to show the validity of chis approach and to develop it further in the reading of biblical texts. The utterances of the blind man's parents in John 9:2lcd are selected as an example for this purpose.