Handbook of American Folklore
Handbook of American Folklore

Author: Richard M. Dorson

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1986-02-22

Total Pages: 614

ISBN-13: 9780253203731

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Includes material on interpretation methods and presentation of research.

The Oral and the Written Gospel
The Oral and the Written Gospel

Author: Werner H. Kelber

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1997-11-22

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9780253114068

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"A tightly argued and comprehensive treatment of an important area of New Testament studies." -- The Christian Century "By distinguishing oral from written modes of transmission, Kelber skillfully unlocks new doors for biblical interpretation." -- Theology Today What happens when speech turns into text? Spoken words, operating from mouth to ear, process knowledge differently from writing which links the eye to the visible, but silent letters on the page. Based on this premise, Werner Kelber discusses orality and writing, and the interaction between the two, at strategic points in the early Christian traditions. In digressing from conventional literary criticism, the book offers new, and often startling insights into the origins of Christianity.

Finding Is the First Act
Finding Is the First Act

Author: John Dominic Crossan

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2008-03-01

Total Pages: 150

ISBN-13: 172522187X

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An imaginative and illuminating study, Finding Is the First Act places historical thinking in creative tension with literary appreciation. The structures of Jesus's parable of the hidden treasure (Matt 13:44) are examined by mapping its plot options (finding, acting, buying) in view of other Jewish treasure stories and the vast array of treasure plots in world folklore. Startling differences emerge in the plot options chosen by Jesus that point to a new understanding of the directive to give up all one has for the Kingdom of God. "Why Jesus' treasure parable? For three reasons that I am aware of. First, . . . the story has always fascinated me. . . . Second, in recent work on parables there has often been a tendency to concentrate especially on the longer parables of Jesus. I wanted deliberately to move in theopposite direction and to give full emphasis to a very short parable . . . . Third, this particular parable, in contrast, for example, to that of The Mustard Seed, does not furnish much grist for the diachronic mill of biblical studies. I was deliberately choosing an item which, in isolation from its Matthean context, could hardly sustain a monograph study along the standard lines of tradition criticism." --from the Preface