Exploring the Texture of Texts: A Guide to Socio-Rhetorical InterpretationsSocio-rhetorical criticism has established itself as one of the promising new methods of biblical study today. Vernon K. Robbins here provides an accessible introduction to socio-rhetorical criticism, illustrating the method by guiding the reader through the study of specific New Testament texts and stories. An opening chapter outlines this new approach and its focus on values, convictions, and beliefs both in the texts we read and in the world in which we live. Then follow chapters on getting inside a text (inner texture), that is, studying the internal aspects of words and meanings in the text: entering the interactive world of the test (intertexture, ), that is relating the text being interpreted to a wide range of phenomena that lie outside the text: living with the text in the world (social and cultural texture), that is, examining the social and cultural locations in the world that the language of the text evokes: and shared interests in commentary and in the text (ideological texture), that is, looking at the way the text itself and interpreters of the text position themselves in relation to other individuals and groups. Texts studied include the rich man and Jesus in Mark 10:17-22 (inner texture): the Pentecost event in Acts 2 (intertexture): the woman who anointed Jesus in Luke 7:36-50 and John 9 (social and cultural texture): the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-40 and women keep silent in 1 Corinthians 14: 26-40 (ideological texture). Vernon K. Robbins is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion, Emory University, and the author of Ancient Quotes and Anecdotes: From Crib to Crypt and The Rhetoric of Pronouncement. |
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action Acts analysis and interpretation aspects asserts attributed speech Barabbas beginning body Boissevain burial centurion challenge chief priests chreia commentary context counterculture cross crucified crucifixion cultural intertexture cultural location cultural texture culture rhetoric death and resurrection disciples divine dominant culture early Christian Ethiopian evokes Galilee gnostic-manipulationist Gospel of John Gospel of Mark historical holy honor ideological texture inner inscription interaction Jerusalem Jewish Jews Joseph of Arimathea kind kingdom language Luke Malina Mark 15 Markan account Markan discourse means Mediterranean Messiah minor premise mock mode Myers narrational discourse narrative nature occurs passive Passover person Pharisees phenomena Pilate Pilate's presents priests and scribes progressive texture rationale reader recitation recontextualization reference relation repetition response resurrection of Jesus Rhetorica ad Herennium Robbins sacred texture saying scene sensory-aesthetic texture simply social and cultural social-scientific socio-rhetorical criticism soldiers speak specific social topics story temple Testament thaumaturgical tomb tradition verses women words