Paul and Seneca within the Ancient Consolation Tradition


Book Description

In this monograph, Alex W. Muir shows how Paul and Seneca were significant contributors to an ancient philosophical and rhetorical tradition of consolation. Each writer's consolatory career is surveyed in turn through close readings of key primary texts: chiefly Seneca's three literary consolations and 'Epistles'; and Paul's letters, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Corinthians, and Philippians. A final comparative dialogue highlights the pair's adaptations and innovations within this tradition.




The Function of Sublime Rhetoric in Hebrews


Book Description

Back cover: In this study, Christopher T. Holmes offers an analysis of Hebrews 12:18-29 and its role in the larger argument of Hebrews. It argues that the first-century treatise, De Sublimitate, provides a significant context for interpreting the rhetoric and style of Hebrews and sheds new light on the thought and genre of Hebrews.




Rhetoric and Scripture


Book Description

This book offers a unique overview of the development of rhetorical criticism both in North America and internationally through the work of pioneering New Testament scholar Thomas H. Olbricht. Lauri Thurén has gathered nineteen of Olbricht's essays as a guidebook to rhetorical criticism for students, clergy, and scholars. The range of essays from throughout Olbricht's career illuminate the history of rhetorical criticism and reflect the different motivations of ancient and contemporary rhetorical approaches. Essays focus on the history of biblical rhetorical analysis, the rhetorical analysis of biblical texts, the characteristics of rhetorical analysis, and types of biblical rhetorical criticism. A foreword by Thurén and a memorial essay by Carl R. Holladay contextualize Olbricht's work. Anyone interested in the rhetorical study of the New Testament will find this volume inspiring and informative.




The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Rhetoric


Book Description

The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Rhetoric details the variety of literary and rhetorical forms found in the New Testament and in the literature of the early Christian church. This authoritative reference source is a treasury for understanding the methods employed by New Testament and early Christian writers. Aune's extensive study will be of immense value to scholars and all those interested in the ways literary and rhetorical forms were used and how they functioned in the early Christian world. This unique and encyclopedic study will serve generations of scholars and students by illuminating the ways words shaped the consciousness of those who encountered Christian teachings.




Consolation in Philippians


Book Description

Rhetorical criticism seeks to understand and comment on the way texts function in their social and cultural contexts. Holloway puts Paul's letter in the context of ancient theories and literary practices of 'consolation' and argues that Paul wrote to the Philippians in order to console them. Holloway shows that the letter has a unified overall strategy and provides a convincing account of Paul's argument. The book falls into two parts. Part I explores the integrity of Philippians, the rhetorical situation of the letter, and ancient consolation as the possible genre of Philippians, while Part II examines Phil. 1:3-11; 1:12-2:30; 3:1-4:1 and 4:2-23. The exegetical studies in Part II focus on the consolatory topoi and arguments of Philippians.




Philippians


Book Description

Paul‘s letter to the Philippians offers treasures to the reader--and historical and theological puzzles as well. Paul A. Holloway treats the letter as a literary unity and a letter of consolation, according to Greek and Roman understandings of that genre, written probably in Rome and thus the latest of Paul‘s letters to come down to us. Adapting the methodology of what he calls a new history of religions perspective, Holloway attends carefully to the religious topoi of Philippians, especially the metamorphic myth in chapter 2, and draws significant conclusions about Paul‘s personalism and "mysticism." With succinct and judicious treatments of pertinent exegetical and theological issues throughout, Holloway draws richly on Jewish, Greek, and Roman comparative material to present a complex understanding of the apostle as a Hellenized and Romanized Jew.




Wisdom Discourse in the Ancient World


Book Description

This book moves beyond the debate on ‘wisdom literature’, ongoing in biblical studies, to demonstrate the productivity of ‘wisdom’ as a literary category. Featuring work by scholars of Egyptology, classics, biblical and Near Eastern studies, it offers fresh perspectives on what makes a text ‘wisdom’. This interdisciplinary volume widens the scope of the investigation into ‘wisdom literature’, chronologically, geographically, and methodologically. Readers are given insights into how the label ‘wisdom’ contributes to our understanding of diverse literary forms across time periods and cultural contexts. In the volume’s introduction, the editors consider ‘wisdom’ as a ‘discourse’, shifting the focus from the debate on whether ‘wisdom literature’ is a genre to the properties of the texts, namely exploring what makes a text ‘wisdom’. This offers a methodological backdrop against which the diverse approaches of the single authors productively coexist, showing how different methodologies can be integrated to reframe our conceptions of ancient literary genres. The chapters in this volume examine texts that are the products of different ancient cultures, with several of them bridging diverse cultural, social, and chronological contexts. By sampling how different methodologies interact both within individual interpretative efforts and in wider attempts to understand cross-cultural literary phenomena, this volume also contributes new perspectives to the scholarship on ancient literary genres. Wisdom Discourse in the Ancient World will interest both students and scholars of the ancient Near East, Egyptology, classical studies, biblical studies, and theology and religious studies, particularly those working on wisdom literature in antiquity. It will also appeal to readers with an interest in comparative approaches and genre studies more broadly.




Jewish Cultural Nationalism


Book Description

Jewish Cultural Nationalism explores the development of Jewish nationalism from the Bible to modern times, focusing on particular movements and places as well as texts which signified, or themselves brought about, change: the Bible (Hebrew prayer book), and the modern Hebrew literature, particularly in Tsarist Russia. While the influence of the Hebrew Bible alone on nationalism in individual periods has been subject to much scholarly study, the present work is unusual in its emphasis on the continuity of Jewish cultural nationalism and its influences through Hebrew texts.




Major Turning Points in Jewish Intellectual History


Book Description

This book analyzes major transformations in Jewish life and thought: from idolatry to exclusive monotheism in the biblical age, from state-based identity to cultural nationalism in the Roman empire; and, in the European Diaspora, from theology to secularism and revived political nationalism in the modern period. Fundamental questions are asked about Jewish survival in a variety of topics including prophecy, Jewish law, Midrash, the Roman-Jewish wars, Stoicism, secular poetry in Muslim Spain, Marx and Freud, and Hebrew literature through the ages.




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