Rhetoric and Drama in the Johannine Lawsuit Motif

Rhetoric and Drama in the Johannine Lawsuit Motif PDF

Author: George L. Parsenios

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9783161502620

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

George L. Parsenios explores the legal character of the Gospel of John in the light of classical literature, especially Greek drama. Johannine interpreters have explored with increasing interest both the legal quality and the dramatic quality of the Fourth Gospel, but often do not connect these two ways of reading John. Some interpreters even assume that the one approach excludes the other, and that John is either legal or dramatic, but not both. Legal rhetoric and tragic drama, however, were joined throughout antiquity in a complex pattern of mutual influence. To connect John to drama, therefore, is to connect John to legal rhetoric, and doing so helps to see even more clearly the pervasiveness of the legal motif in the Gospel of John. Tracing the legal character of seeking in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, for example, sheds new light on the legal character of seeking in the Fourth Gospel, especially in the enigmatic comment of Jesus at John 8:50. New insights are also offered regarding the evidentiary character of the signs of Jesus, based on comparison with Aristotle's comments about signs and rhetorical evidence in both the Poetics and Rhetoric, as well as by comparison with plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. To call the signs of Jesus evidence, however, does not remove them from the dialectical tension inherent in Johannine theology. If the signs are evidence, they are evidence in a world in which the basis of forming judgments has been problematized by the appearance of the Word in the flesh.

Johannine Writings and Apocalyptic

Johannine Writings and Apocalyptic PDF

Author: Stanley E. Porter

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-09-15

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 9004254870

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Johannine Writings and Apocalyptic provides a wide-ranging and thorough annotated bibliography for John's Gospel, the Johannine letters, Revelation, and apocalyptic writings pertinent to these books. More inclusive than many other bibliographies, this volume provides reference to over 1300 individual entries, often including references to multiple works with a given description. Annotations are designed to provide guidance to a wide range of readers, from students wishing to gain entry to the subject to graduate students engaging in research to professors needing ready access to useful materials. The volume is topically organized and indexed for easy access.

Sense Perception and Testimony in the Gospel According to John

Sense Perception and Testimony in the Gospel According to John PDF

Author: Sunny Kuan-Hui Wang

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2017-06-02

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9783161547355

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In this book, Sunny Kuan-Hui Wang explores the relationship between sense perception and testimony in the Gospel of John. While Johannine scholars tend to focus on one or the other, she shows that sense perception and testimony are both significant and are used together with the intention of drawing readers into the narrative so that they become witnesses in an emotionally engaged way. It is argued that John's use of sense perception together with testimony is rooted in Jewish literature. Yet John also employs a Graeco-Roman rhetorical technique, enargeia , which appeals to the persuasive power of sense perception to make his narrative vivid. John does not downplay sense perception. Rather, he uses it in the context of testimony as a means of persuasion to draw the readers, in their imagination, into the experience of the first disciples and thus deeper into faith and witness.

New Testament Rhetoric, Second Edition

New Testament Rhetoric, Second Edition PDF

Author: Ben Witherington

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2022-09-28

Total Pages: 397

ISBN-13: 1532689683

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Witherington and Myers provide 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 and Myers make 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

Cast Out of the Covenant

Cast Out of the Covenant PDF

Author: Adele Reinhartz

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-07-07

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1978701187

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Gospel of John presents its readers, listeners, and interpreters with a serious problem: how can we reconcile the Gospel’s exalted spirituality and deep knowledge of Judaism with its portrayal of the Jews as the children of the devil (John 8:44) who persecuted Christ and his followers? One widespread solution to this problem is the so-called “expulsion hypothesis.” According to this view, the Fourth Gospel was addressed to a Jewish group of believers in Christ that had been expelled from the synagogue due to their faith. The anti-Jewish elements express their natural resentment of how they had been treated; the Jewish elements of the Gospel, on the other hand, reflect the Jewishness of this group and also soften the force of the Gospel’s anti-Jewish comments. In Cast out of the Covenant, this book, Adele Reinhartz presents a detailed critique of the expulsion hypothesis on literary and historical grounds. She argues that, far from softening the Gospel’s anti-Jewishness, the Gospel’s Jewish elements in fact contribute to it. Focusing on the Gospel’s persuasive language and intentions, Reinhartz shows that the Gospel’s anti-Jewishness is evident not only in the Gospel’s hostile comments about the Jews but also in its appropriation of Torah, Temple, and Covenant that were so central to first-century Jewish identity. Through its skillful use of rhetoric, the Gospel attempts to convince its audience that God’s favor had turned away from the Jews to the Gentiles; that there is a deep rift between the synagogue and those who confess Christ as Messiah; and that, in the Gospel’s view, this rift was initiated in Jesus’ own lifetime. The Fourth Gospel, Reinhartz argues, appropriates Jewishness at the same time as it repudiates Jews. In doing so, it also promotes a “parting of the ways” between those who believe that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God, and those who do not, that is, the Jews. This rhetorical program, she suggests, may have been used to promote outreach or even an organized mission to the Gentiles, following in the footsteps of Paul and his mid-first-century contemporaries.

The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies PDF

Author: Judith M. Lieu

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-07-19

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 0191060496

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The contribution of the Johannine literature to the development of Christian theology, and particularly to Christology, is uncontested, although careful distinction between the implications of its language, especially that of sonship, in a first century 'Jewish' context and in the subsequent theological controversies of the early Church has been particularly important if not always easily sustained. Recent study has shaken off the weight of subsequent Christian appropriation of Johannine language which has sometimes made readers immune to the ambiguities and challenging tensions in its thought. The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies begins with chapters concentrating on discussions of the background and context of the Johannine literature, leading to the different ways of reading the text, and thence to the primary theological themes within them, before concluding with some discussion of the reception of the Johannine literature in the early church. Inevitably, given their different genres and levels of complexity, some chapters pay most if not all attention to the Gospel, whereas others are more able to give a more substantial place to the letters. All the contributors have themselves made significant contributions to their topic. They have sought to give a balanced introduction to the relevant scholarship and debate, but they have also been able to present the issues from their own perspective. The Handbook will help those less familiar with the Johannine literature to get a sense of the major areas of debate and why the field continues to be one of vibrant and exciting study, and that those who are already part of the conversation will find new insights to enliven their own on-going engagement with these writings.

Johannine Christology

Johannine Christology PDF

Author: Stanley E. Porter

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-07-13

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 9004435611

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Johannine Christology explores the formation of Christology in the Fourth Gospel, the Hellenistic and Jewish contexts, the literary character of these writings, and Christology’s application for various audiences.

The Divine Courtroom in Comparative Perspective

The Divine Courtroom in Comparative Perspective PDF

Author: Ari Mermelstein

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2014-09-11

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 9004281649

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Contributors to The Divine Courtroom in Comparative Perspective treat one of the most pervasive religious metaphors, that of the divine courtroom, in both its historical and thematic senses. In order to shed light on the various manifestations of the divine courtroom, this volume consists of essays by scholars of the ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, Talmud, Islam, medieval Judaism, and classical Greek literature. Contributions to the volume primarily center upon three related facets of the divine courtroom: the role of the divine courtroom in the earthly legal system; the divine courtroom as the site of historical justice; and the divine courtroom as the venue in which God is called to answer for his own unjust acts.

Characterizing Jesus

Characterizing Jesus PDF

Author: Alicia D Myers

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-01-12

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0567103897

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This study explores how the Fourth Gospel's use of Scripture contributes to its characterization of Jesus. Utilizing literary-rhetorical criticism, Myers approaches the Gospel in its final form, paying particular attention to how Greco-Roman rhetoric can assist in understanding the ways in which Scripture is employed to support the presentation of Jesus. It offers further evidence in favour of the Gospel's use of rhetoric (particularly the practices of synkrisis, ekpharsis, and prosopopoiia), and gives scholars a new way to use rhetoric to better understand the use of Scripture in the Fourth Gospel and the New Testament as a whole. The book proceeds in three parts. First, it examines ancient Mediterranean practices of narration and characterization in relationship to the Gospel, concluding with an analysis of the Johannine prologue. In the second and third parts, it investigates explicit appeals to Scripture that are made both in and outside of Jesus' discourses. Through these analyses, Myers contends that the pervasive presence of Scripture in quotations, allusions, and references acts as corroborating evidence supporting the evangelist's presentation of Jesus.

Abiding Words

Abiding Words PDF

Author: Alicia D. Myers

Publisher: SBL Press

Published: 2015-04-01

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1628370955

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A collection of essays by experts from around the world Like the other New Testament Gospels, the Gospel of John repeatedly appeals to Scripture (Old Testament). Preferring allusions and “echoes” alongside more explicit quotations, however, the Gospel of John weaves Scripture as an authoritative source concerning its story of Jesus. Yet, this is the same Gospel that is often regarded as antagonistic toward “the Jews,” especially the Jewish religious leaders, depicted within it. Features: Introduces and updates readers on the question of John’s employment of Scripture Showcases useful approaches to more general studies on the New Testament’s use of Scripture, sociological and rhetorical analyses, and memory theory Explores the possible implications surrounding Scripture usage for the Gospel audiences both ancient and contemporary