Vernon K. Robbins

In this book Vernon K. Robbins 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 text we read and in the world in which we live. Then follow studies and exercises dealing with specific textural features: inner texture, intertexture, social and cultural texture, ideological texture, and sacred texture.

A Guide to Socio-Rhetorical Interpretations

Exploring the Texture of Texts

Jonathan M. Potter

Explore the diverse character of emerging Christian narratives This book presents essays that show how prophetic and priestly emphases in Luke and Acts, and emphasis on Jesus’s existence prior to creation in the Gospel of John, are reworked in some second- and third-century Christian literature. Early Christians interpreted and expressed the storylines of Jesus, Mary, and other important figures in ways that created new images and stories. Contributors show the effect of including rhetography, the rhetoric of a text that prompts images and pictures in the mind of a hearer or reader, in interpretation of texts. Features: Readings that attempt to account for the development of richly creative and complicated early Christian traditions Essays bridging New Testament studies and interpretation of Early Christian literature Interpretations that integrate social and rhetorical interpretations

Jesus and Mary Reimagined in Early Christian Literature

Annotation In this original study, Vernon Robbins expounds and develops his system of socio-rhetorical criticism, bringing together social-scientific and literary-critical approaches to explore early Christianity.

Rhetoric, Society and Ideology

The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse

Spanning early Christian writings from the Gospel of Mark to the Acts of John, this book by Vernon Robbins explores the various ways early Christians explained their understanding of the special nature of Jesus beyond the canonical Gospels. Who Do People Say I Am? shows how second-and third-century Christian authors of additional Gospels and Gospel-like writings expanded and elaborated on Jesus’ divinity in the context of his earthly existence. According to Robbins, these Christian authors thought that the New Testament Gospel writers could and should have emphasized the divinity of Jesus more than they did. Throughout the book Robbins asks and answers questions such as these: If Jesus introduced new beliefs and practices, what did second- and third-century believers find unresolved in the New Testament Gospels about those beliefs and practices, and how did they try to resolve them? What gaps in the storylines of the New Testament Gospels did second- and third-century Christian writers think could be filled in, and how did they fill them in? If Jesus really were fully divine when he came to earth and lived among his disciples, what experiences did his disciples have that the New Testament Gospels do not tell us? Learning activities and a bibliography at the end of each chapter help make this book a valuable resource for students and any other interested readers.

Rewriting Gospel in Emerging Christianity

Who Do People Say I Am?

This study establishes a concept of culture and then combines it with Geertz' anthropological concept of thick description. Subsequently, the relation of texts to society and culture is discussed. In this manner, multiple methods of interpretation are used in an organized and programmatic way, allowing the reader insights into the development of early Christianity. In this study, Vernon Robbins expounds and develops his system of socio-rhetorical criticism, bringing together social-scientific and literary-critical approaches to explore early Christanity. This book investigates Christianity as a cultural phenomenon, and treats its canonical texts as ideological constructs.

Roy R. Jeal

Walter S. Melion

A critical study for those interested in the intersection of art and biblical interpretation With a special focus on biblical texts and images, this book nurtures new developments in biblical studies and art history during the last two or three decades. Analysis and interpretation of specific works of art introduce guidelines for students and teachers who are interested in the relation of verbal presentation to visual production. The essays provide models for research in the humanities that move beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries erected in previous centuries. In particular, the volume merges recent developments in rhetorical interpretation and cognitive studies with art historical visual exegesis. Readers will master the tools necessary for integrating multiple approaches both to biblical and artistic interpretation. Features Resources for understanding the relation of texts to artistic paintings and images Tools for integrating multiple approaches both to biblical and artistic interpretation Sixty images and fifteen illustrations

Vernon K. Robbins

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