"An excellent contribution to the developing study of intertextuality in biblical studies." -- Religious Studies Review "... a 'must' read for Luke-Acts scholars..." -- Theology Today "Makes important contributions to the study of Luke and Acts, biblical studies generally, and the growing body of literature on theory and method in biblical criticism.... [A] fine and provocative piece of work." -- R. Alan Culpepper, Baylor University "This book makes a valuable contribution to the study of intertextuality..." -- Themelios
This project highlights Jesus' use of scripture within each Synoptic Gospel as an important component of each Gospel's narrative rhetoric. Using literary analysis—particularly composition criticism, narrative criticism, and comparative analysis—the main object of study is the explicit citation of Jesus, rather than any implied citation, allusion or echo. Concentration on the latter areas offers insight into the way scripture was understood by Christians and Jews in Second Temple Judaism, however, the study of explicit citations provides the basis upon which we assume other allusions may be heard by first century audiences. The study concludes that each Gospel offers its own distinctive portrayal of Jesus’ use of scripture based on each one’s narrative rhetoric.
The Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, a 'rewritten Bible' that follows the broad contours of Genesis to Samuel, includes numerous secondary, or out-of-sequence, episodes, and frequently juxtaposes unrelated biblical characters. The subtlety and significance of these inner-biblical linkages has up to now not been fully appreciated. Building on recent studies in intertextuality, Fisk shows how Pseudo-Philo is often guided by intertextual links and themes present within the canonical precursor, that he is heavily indebted to post-biblical midrashic traditions, and that 'secondary scripture' is a strategic means by which Israel's traditions are reconfigured in this enigmatic text.
The methodological approach employed in this research utilizes the hermeneutics of comparative midrash combined with aspects of Bakhtinian dialogism and intertextuality. The purpose of this enterprise is to discern the function of scripture in Joel and its New Testament Nachleben. The terms 'appropriation' and 'resignification' are descriptive of the process through which an antecedent text is transformed by its displacement, condensation, and recontextualization. These methodologies assist in giving an account of the intertextual dialogism involved in a text’s unrecorded hermeneutics. The scope of the work looks at the use of scriptural traditions within the book of Joel during the Second Temple period. There is an introduction to the hermeneutical methods employed, followed by a general introduction to the book of Joel in chapter one. Chapters two and three concern the function of scripture in Joel. Finally, the last chapter deals with Joel’s New Testament Nachleben. Each chapter has an introduction and conclusion. This work does not eschew the importance of diachronic issues. The diachronic method pays attention to the context of an antecedent’s voice, while the synchronic methodological approach pays attention to the function and purpose in which the receptor text resignifies the appropriated motifs and allusions. The diachronic becomes fused with the synchronic in the process of an allusion’s recontextualization. This study, in a heuristic manner, focuses on the way that each allusion is appropriated and resignified for the needs of both Joel’s community and those of the later NT, in order to understand the function of canonical hermeneutics.
The influence of Isaiah on John's narrative and theology has long been recognized, but it has yet to receive monograph-length attention. This study is a beginning attempt to fill that void through an examination of the use of Isaiah in the crucial hinge of John's gospel - John 12:1-43. Beginning with a reading of Isaiah 40-55 illustrating a way in which early Christians may have read this important section of Scripture, the bulk of the study examines the pericopes in John 12:1-43, seeking to identify and interpret John's use of Isaiah 52-53. It is concluded that a reading of this well-known Isaianic text rooted within its broader context in Isaiah, together with the mediating influence of other texts - notably Isa 6:9-10 and Zech 9:9-10 - has fueled much Johannine theology, Christology, and ecclesiology. Moreover, mirroring the progression of Isa 52:7-53:1 in John 12 is the author's way of underlining Jesus' identity as the Servant of God and announcing that the second exodus prophesied by Isaiah is secured by the rejection (and death) of Jesus.
"Were the three rulers with the name "Herod" in Luke-Acts a composite character? Frank Dicken explores their narrative similarities and interprets them as a single character in light of other examples of conflation in Jewish and early Christian literature."--Provided by publisher.
In this volume Joshua Paul Smith challenges the long-held assumption that Luke and Acts were written by a gentile, arguing instead that the author of these texts was educated and enculturated within a Second-Temple Jewish context. Advancing from a consciously interdisciplinary perspective, Smith considers the question of Lukan authorship from multiple fronts, including reception history and social memory theory, literary criticism, and the emerging discipline of cognitive sociolinguistics. The result is an alternative portrait of Luke the Evangelist, one who sees the mission to the gentiles not as a supersession of Jewish law and tradition, but rather as a fulfillment and expansion of Israel’s own salvation history.
The Prophets Agree is the first study of its kind that offers a comprehensive analysis of the role Minor Prophets in the book of Acts, and how it has made a singular redemptive-historical contribution to that NT book.
Humor in the Gospels is the most comprehensive resource on Gospel humor to date. Terri Bednarz reviews and critiques a 150 years of biblical scholarship on the subject from little known journal articles and out-of-print books to the most well respected classical works of today. She covers a range of scholarly discussions on the various forms and functions of Gospel humor from frivolity to witty allusions to satirical barbs. She examines the barriers of associating humor with the Gospel depictions of Jesus, the difficulties of identifying humor in ancient biblical texts, and the advances of literary, contextual, and rhetorical approaches to recognizing Gospel humor. This important work includes an extensive bibliography for further study of Gospel humor in particular, and Biblical humor in general.
Litwak challenges previous studies of the use of the Old Testament in Luke-Acts as inadequate. In contrast to previous studies that consider only quotations or obvious allusions, he examines intertextual echoes of the Old Testament at strategic points in Luke-Acts, as well as quotations and allusions and echoed traditions. Thus, this study's database is larger. Previous studies generally argue that Luke's use of the Scriptures is in the service of christology. This leads to the exclusion of scriptural citations, such as those of the temptation (Luke 4.1-13) which have different emphases. Litwak views ecclesiology as the overall purpose behind Luke's use of the Old Testament, but he does not skip or avoid intertextual references that may lie outside an ecclesiological function. Whilst other studies contend that Luke uses the Old Testament according to a promise-fulfillment/proof-form-prophecy hermeneutic, Litwak argues that this fails to account for many of the intertextual references. Other studies often subsume all of Luke's use of the Scriptures of Israel under one theme, such as the 'New Exodus', but this study does not require that every intertextual echo maps to a specific theme. Rather, the many intertextual references in strategic texts at the beginning, middle and end of Luke-Acts, and Luke's use of the texts, are allowed to dictate the 'themes' to which they relate. JSNTS 282
