Apokatastasis.wiki

Anaphora

Like Sentence-Beginnings

Anaphora is a figure of speech in which the same word or phrase stands at the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or members. That repeated opening gives each element a common anchor: they are strung together on one repeated initial word, and that word carries the emphasis that binds the whole series. Bullinger classifies anaphora among the figures of addition — each new element is an addition that derives its weight from all that precedes it through the repeated opening.

Etymology

Greek ἀναφορά (anaphora), from ἀναφέρω (“to carry back”, “to lead back”). The name points to the “carrying back” of the same formulation to the start of each clause — as if the speaker returns each time to the same point of departure. In classical rhetoric the term was adopted directly into Latin (anaphora). Bullinger’s English designation is ANAPHORA; or, Like Sentence-Beginnings.

Definition

The figure works through the mechanical force of repetition at a fixed position: the opening word. Each new sentence or clause begins identically, and that identity creates rhythm, momentum, and emphasis. The reader or hearer anticipates the next element as soon as the opening word sounds. That anticipation effect makes anaphora especially suited to lists, confessions, blessings, and laments — any text where a sequence of elements shares one common foundation. Bullinger distinguishes cases where the repeated opening word is a theological key-concept (the “one” in Eph. 4:4-6), a command (the “praise” of Ps. 150), a testimony (the “voice of the LORD” in Ps. 29), or an assurance of God’s faithfulness (the “for his mercy endureth for ever” in Ps. 136).

Bible Examples

A single opening word as theological confession:

• Eph. 4:4-6 — sevenfold “one” (εἷς/ἕν/μία): “one body and one Spirit … one hope … one Lord, one faith, one baptism … one God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:4-6). Paul stacks seven expressions with “one” — the repeated opening word is also the substance of the confession. Nee reads this passage as evidence of the trinitarian unity within the economy of salvation: Father, Spirit, and Lord Jesus each explicitly named, bound together by the sevenfold “one”. The anaphora renders that unity not merely a concept but a rhythmically perceptible reality.

Repeated summons to praise:

• Ps. 150 — “Praise God … praise him … Praise him … praise him … Praise him … praise him … praise him … praise him … Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD” (Ps. 150:1-6). “Praise him” recurs at the opening of each clause; the psalm is one sustained anaphora that draws all instruments, all places, and finally all breathing creatures under the same opening word.
• Ps. 136 — “for his mercy endureth for ever” — twenty-six times as the close of each verse-half, but in the psalm’s call-and-response structure the repetition functions as the recurring opener of the answering line. Bullinger sees an extended anaphora that brings the whole history of creation and redemption under a single refrain.

The voice of the LORD — sevenfold:

• Ps. 29:3-9 — “The voice of the LORD is upon the waters … the voice of the LORD is powerful … the voice of the LORD is full of majesty … the voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars … the voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire … the voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness … the voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve” (Ps. 29:3-9). Seven times the same opening; the sevenfold repetition of “the voice of the LORD” makes the theophany an accumulating series in which each verse magnifies the preceding one.

Repetition in the Beatitudes:

• Matt. 5:3-11 — “Blessed are the poor in spirit … Blessed are they that mourn … Blessed are the meek … Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness … Blessed are the merciful … Blessed are the pure in heart … Blessed are the peacemakers … Blessed are they which are persecuted” (Matt. 5:3-11). Eight times “Blessed are” at the opening; the anaphora gives the Sermon on the Mount a catechetical character — each beatitude is self-contained yet belongs to one manifesto held together by the repeated opener.

Elliptical repetition in an apostolic suffering-list:

• 2 Cor. 11:26-27 — “in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren” (2 Cor. 11:26). Eight times “in perils of” (ἐν κινδύνοις). Paul catalogues the dangers of his apostolic service; the anaphora turns the list into a testimony of uninterrupted perseverance.

Stephen-Jones SUHUR Examples (Universal Reconciliation)

Additional Stephen-Jones SUHUR examples to be integrated.

Stephen-Jones IGCSE Examples (God’s Sovereignty and Juridical Redemption)

Divine Will — “Either way” as inescapable determination:

• Jones (IGCSE, Doctrine of God) — “Either men will consent to be redeemed in this age, or they will do so after the final judgment at the Great White Throne. One may do this the easy way or the hard way. But either way, God is God, and His will shall ultimately prevail.” The repetition of “either…or” followed by “But either way” makes divine sovereignty perceptible: whichever path man chooses (voluntary redemption or post-judgment Jubilee liberation), God’s will prevails. The anaphora demonstrates that God’s determination is inescapable — not despite but through human choice. This juridical-rhetorical pattern works because the repeated opening “either” and “either way” brings all alternative paths under one divine outcome.

Related Figures

• epizeuxis — immediate repetition of the same word at the same position; anaphora repeats the opening word only with the next clause or sentence
• polysyndeton — links clauses by repeating a conjunction (e.g. “and … and … and”); anaphora repeats an independent opening word, polysyndeton repeats a connective
• polyptoton — repeats the same root in a different inflected form; anaphora repeats the identical unchanged word at the start of each clause

Source

E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (1898), pp. 199-205.