New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism

New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism

Author: George A. Kennedy

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2014-02-01

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 1469616254

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New Testament Interpretation through Rhetorical Criticism provides readers of the Bible with an important tool for understanding the Scriptures. Based on the theory and practice of Greek rhetoric in the New Testament, George Kennedy's approach acknowledges that New Testament writers wrote to persuade an audience of the truth of their messages. These writers employed rhetorical conventions that were widely known and imitated in the society of the times. Sometimes confirming but often challenging common interpretations of texts, this is the first systematic study of the rhetorical composition of the New Testament. As a complement to form criticism, historical criticism, and other methods of biblical analysis, rhetorical criticism focuses on the text as we have it and seeks to discover the basis of its powerful appeal and the intent of its authors. Kennedy shows that biblical writers employed both "external" modes of persuasion, such as scriptural authority, the evidence of miracles, and the testimony of witnesses, and "internal" methods, such as ethos (authority and character of the speaker), pathos (emotional appeal to the audience), and logos (deductive and inductive argument in the text). In the opening chapter Kennedy presents a survey of how rhetoric was taught in the New Testament period and outlines a rigorous method of rhetorical criticism that involves a series of steps. He provides in succeeding chapters examples of rhetorical analysis, looking closely at the Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus' farewell to the disciples in John's Gospel, the distinctive rhetoric of Jesus, the speeches in Acts, and the approach of Saint Paul in Second Corinthians, Thessalonians, Galatians, and Romans.


Questions and Rhetoric in the Greek New Testament

Questions and Rhetoric in the Greek New Testament

Author: Douglas Estes

Publisher: Zondervan Academic

Published: 2017-03-28

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 031052508X

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While there are almost 1000 questions in the Greek New Testament, many commentators, pastors, and students skip over the questions for more ‘theological’ verses or worse they convert questions into statements to mine them for what they are saying theologically. However, this is not the way questions in the Greek New Testament work, and it overlooks the rhetorical importance of questions and how they were used in the ancient world. Questions and Rhetoric in the Greek New Testament is a helpful and thorough examination of questions in the Greek New Testament, seen from the standpoint of grammatical, semantic, and linguistic analysis, with special emphasis on their rhetorical effects. It includes charts, tools, and lists that explain and categorize the almost 1000 questions in the Greek New Testament. Thus, the user is able to go to the section in the book dealing with the type of question they are studying and find the exegetical parameters needed to understand that question. Questions and Rhetoric in the Greek New Testament offers vibrant examples of all the major categories of questions to aid the reader in grasping how questions work in the Greek New Testament. Special emphasis is given to the way questions persuade and influence readers of the Greek New Testament.


Oxford Bibliographies

Oxford Bibliographies

Author: Ilan Stavans

Publisher:

Published:

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780199913701

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"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."--Editorial page.


The Bible as Rhetoric

The Bible as Rhetoric

Author: M Warner

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-10-31

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1040193560

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First Published in 1990, The Bible as Rhetoric explores the ways in which the persuasive strategies employed in the biblical texts relate (both positively and negatively) to their preoccupations with religious and historical truth. The book contains pioneering interdisciplinary papers that clarify what is at issue in the apparently competing claims that the Bible should be read ‘as literature’ and ‘as scripture’. Uniquely, the volume brings together philosophers, literary critics, biblical scholars, theologians, and historians of ideas who combine the best biblical and historical scholarship with a range of contemporary approaches to the study of texts, from the deconstructive and the feminist through the Wittgensteinian to those of the heirs of the tradition of practical criticism. The volume is of importance both to those interested in the applications of contemporary literary theory and to all those concerned with the relation between religious and secular readings of the Bible.


The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges

The Rhetoric of the Book of Judges

Author: Robert H. O'Connell

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2014-09-03

Total Pages: 567

ISBN-13: 9004275878

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This volume describes how the rhetorical devices used in Judges inspire its readers to support a divinely appointed Judahite king who endorses the deuteronomic agenda to rid the land of foreigners, to maintain inter-tribal loyalty to YHWH's cult, and to uphold social justice. Matters of rhetorical concern interpreted here include the superimposed cycle-motif and tribal-political schemata, concerns reflected in the plot-layers of each hero story, the force of narrative analogy for characterization, the strategy of entrapment which foreshadows portrayals of Saul and David in 1 Samuel, and the relation between Judges' implied situation of composition and its compiler's intention. In addition to offering new insights into the rhetorical strategy of the Judges compiler, this book illustrates a new method for understanding how plot-layered stories work.


Rhetoric and Biblical Interpretation

Rhetoric and Biblical Interpretation

Author: Dale Patrick

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 1990-03-01

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 0567104311

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'In this study, Patrick and Scult are well informed on the theory of "discourses as power" but they do not linger over dense theoretical issues. Rather they show in concrete cases how discourse works. Their study of Job both puts such theory to good advantage, and shows us Job afresh. The book is lucid, disciplined, and accessible, a great help in time of trouble.' (Walter Brueggemann)


Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis

Author: Roland Meynet

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 1998-03-01

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 0567589862

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The analysis of biblical rhetoric has been developed only in the last 250 years. The first half of this book outlines the history of the method known as rhetorical analysis in biblical studies, illustrated by numerous texts. The work of Lowth (who focused on 'parallelism'), Bengel (who drew attention to 'chiasmus'), Jebb and Boys (the method's real founders at the turn of the ninteenth century) and Lund (the chief exponent in the mid-twentieth century) are all discussed, as is the current full blooming of rhetorical analysis. The second half of the book is a systematic account of the method, testing it on Psalms 113 and 146, on the first two chapters of Amos, and many other texts, especially from Luke. Translated by Luc Racaut.


Influence: On Rhetoric and Biblical Interpretation

Influence: On Rhetoric and Biblical Interpretation

Author: Michal Beth Dinkler

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-03-22

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13: 9004461426

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The Bible is by nature rhetorical. Written to persuade, biblical texts have influenced humans beyond what their authors ever imagined. Influence: On Rhetoric and Biblical Interpretation invites readers to think critically about biblical rhetoric and the rhetoric of its interpretation.


New Testament Rhetoric

New Testament Rhetoric

Author: Ben Witherington

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2009-01-01

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1556359292

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Witherington provides a much-needed introduction to the ancient art of persuasion and its use within the various New Testament documents. More than just an exploration of the use of the ancient rhetorical tools and devices, this guide introduces the reader to all that went into convincing an audience about some subject. Witherington makes the case that rhetorical criticism is a more fruitful approach to the NT epistles than the oft-employed approaches of literary and discourse criticism. Familiarity with the art of rhetoric also helps the reader explore non-epistolary genres. In addition to the general introduction to rhetorical criticism, the book guides readers through the many and varied uses of rhetoric in most NT documents-not only telling readers about rhetoric in the NT, but showing them the way it was employed. This brief guide book is intended to provide the reader with an entrance into understanding the rhetorical analysis of various parts of the NT, the value such studies bring for understanding what is being proclaimed and defended in the NT, and how Christ is presented in ways that would be considered persuasive in antiquity. - from the introduction