The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament within Greco-Roman Literary CultureConventional approaches to the Synoptic gospels argue that the gospel authors acted as literate spokespersons for their religious communities. Whether described as documenting intra-group 'oral traditions' or preserving the collective perspectives of their fellow Christ-followers, these writers are treated as something akin to the Romantic poet speaking for their Volk - a questionable framework inherited from nineteenth-century German Romanticism. In this book, Robyn Faith Walsh argues that the Synoptic gospels were written by elite cultural producers working within a dynamic cadre of literate specialists, including persons who may or may not have been professed Christians. Comparing a range of ancient literature, her ground-breaking study demonstrates that the gospels are creative works produced by educated elites interested in Judean teachings, practices, and paradoxographical subjects in the aftermath of the Jewish War and in dialogue with the literature of their age. Walsh's study thus bridges the artificial divide between research on the Synoptic gospels and Classics. |
Contents
Diamonds in a Dunghill Seeking | 1 |
The Myth of Christian Origins | 20 |
The Invention of Tradition | 31 |
A Case Study | 37 |
German Romanticism | 50 |
Ancient Writers as Literate Specialists | 112 |
Locating Expertise | 121 |
A Case Study | 127 |
the Satyrica and Anonymous Sources | 134 |
The Gospels as Subversive Biography | 170 |
Lions mate with lions Creative License | 195 |
| 201 | |
| 222 | |
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The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament ... Robyn Faith Walsh No preview available - 2023 |
Common terms and phrases
activity Acts Aesop Alexander ancient antiquity approach argue associated beginnings biography Cambridge century chapter cited claims Classical collective concept context continue conversation critical cultural death demonstrates described discussion early Christian elite engaged established evidence example field figure genre German given gospel writers gospels Greek Herder Homer idea imagined imperial influence instance interests interpretation invented Jesus John Judean kind knowledge language later letters literary literate literature lives Luke Mark material means methods movement myth narrative nature networks noted notion novel offer oral tradition origins Oxford particular Paul Paul’s philosophers political position practices question readers reference Religion religious representative rhetorical Roman scholars scholarship shared social society Socrates sources stories suggests teachings Testament texts Theory thought tomb understanding University Press writing written