New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical CriticismNew Testament Interpretation through Rhetorical Criticism provides readers of the Bible with an important tool for understanding the Scriptures. Based on the theory and practice of Greek rhetoric in the New Testament, George Kennedy’s approach acknowledges that New Testament writers wrote to persuade an audience of the truth of their messages. These writers employed rhetorical conventions that were widely known and imitated in the society of the times. Sometimes confirming but often challenging common interpretations of texts, this is the first systematic study of the rhetorical composition of the New Testament. As a complement to form criticism, historical criticism, and other methods of biblical analysis, rhetorical criticism focuses on the text as we have it and seeks to discover the basis of its powerful appeal and the intent of its authors. Kennedy shows that biblical writers employed both “external” modes of persuasion, such as scriptural authority, the evidence of miracles, and the testimony of witnesses, and “internal” methods, such as ethos (authority and character of the speaker), pathos (emotional appeal to the audience), and logos (deductive and inductive argument in the text). In the opening chapter Kennedy presents a survey of how rhetoric was taught in the New Testament period and outlines a rigorous method of rhetorical criticism that involves a series of steps. He provides in succeeding chapters examples of rhetorical analysis, looking closely at the Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus' farewell to the disciples in John’s Gospel, the distinctive rhetoric of Jesus, the speeches in Acts, and the approach of Saint Paul in Second Corinthians, Thessalonians, Galatians, and Romans. |
Contents
| 3 | |
Deliberative Rhetoric The Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Plain and the Rhetoric of Jesus | 39 |
Epideictic Rhetoric John 1317 | 73 |
Judicial Rhetoric Second Corinthians | 86 |
The Rhetoric of the Gospels | 97 |
The Speeches in Acts | 114 |
Thessalonians Galatians Romans | 141 |
Conclusion | 157 |
| 161 | |
| 167 | |
Other editions - View all
New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism George Alexander Kennedy No preview available - 1984 |
New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism George Alexander Kennedy No preview available - 1984 |
Common terms and phrases
action addressed amplified apostles appeal Aristotle asserts audience authority Beatitudes begins Bible chapter chiasmus Christ Christian rhetoric classical rhetoric composition Corinth Corinthians crowd deliberative described disciples discourse doctrine enthymeme enunciated epideictic epilogue epistles ethos evangelists evidence example exigence external Father form criticism function Galatians gentiles given gospel Greek Holy Spirit injunction Jerusalem Jesus Jewish Jews John the Baptist judicial kingdom of heaven letter literary logical argument logos Luke Luke's Mark Matthew ment metaphor minor premise narration narrative orator oratory parables passage pathos Paul Paul's Pharisees pleonasm prayer preaching premise probably proem proof prophecy proposition prosopopoeia Quintilian readers rhetorical criticism rhetorical problem rhetorical question rhetorical situation rhetorical unit rhetoricians Roman sacred language says Scripture seeks seems sermon sion speak speaker specific Speech of Peter stasis style synagogues teaching Testament theory Thessalonians tion topics torical understanding verse witness words writing