Download or read book Rhetoric and Reality in Early Christianities written by Willi Braun and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most pressing issues for scholars of religion concerns the role of persuasion in early Christianities and other religions in Greco-Roman antiquity. The essays in Rhetoric and Reality in Early Christianities explore questions about persuasion and its relationship to early Christianities. The contributors theorize about persuasion as the effect of verbal performances, such as argumentation in accordance with rules of rhetoric, or as a result of other types of performance: ritual, behavioural, or imagistic. They discuss the relationship between the verbal performance of rhetoric and other performative modes in generating, sustaining, and transmitting a persuasive form of religiosity. The essays in this book cover a wide chronological range (from the first century to late antiquity) and diverse topical examples contribute to the collection’s thematic centre: the relations among formalized and technical verbal performances (rhetoric, texts) and other forms of persuasive performances (ritual, practices), the social agendas that early Christians pursued by means of verbal, rhetorical performances, and the larger social context in which Christians and other religious groups competitively jockeyed to attract the minds and bodies of audiences in the Greco-Roman world.
Download or read book Rhetoric and Reality in Early Christianities written by Willi Braun and published by Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion/Corporation canadienne des sciences religieuses by Wilfrid Laurier University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-21 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation Explores questions about persuasion and its relationship to early Christianities. The essays cover a wide chronological range and diverse topical examples.
Download or read book Christian Origins written by Lewis Ayres and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1998 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian Origins is an exploration of the historical course and nature of early Christian theology, which concentrates on setting it within particular traditions or sets of traditions. In the three sections of the volume, Reading Origen, Reading the Fourth Century and Christian Origins in the Western Traditions, the contributors reconsider classic themes and texts in the light of the existing traditions of interpretation. They offer critiques of early Christian ideas and texts and they consider the structure and origins of standard modern readings of these ideas and texts. The contributors employ a variety of methodological approaches to analyse the interplay between ancient philosophical traditions and the development of Christian thought and to redefine the parameters between the previously accepted divisions in the traditions of Christian theology and thought.
Download or read book John Chrysostom and the Jews written by Robert L. Wilken and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2004-10-14 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Chrysostom, the golden mouth, the greatest preacher in the early church and a key figure during the transition from the ancient to the Byzantine and medieval worlds, is known as a vehement critic of the Jews. In this study, Robert Wilken presents a new interpretation of John's homilies against the Jews, setting them in the context of the pluralistic society of fourth-century Antioch and against the tradition of ancient rhetoric. In reading John's homilies, Wilken argues, we must not impose on them the anti-Jewish attitudes of medieval times, when Christianity was the dominant force in the West and Judaism was a minority religion. In John's time, Christianity was only one, and by no means the most self-assured, of the cultural forces in Antioch. It had to compete with an established Jewish community and with the classical pagan tradition that underlay education and public life. In 363, the Roman emperor Julian, who had apostatized Christianity to embrace the traditional pagan religion, attempted to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. He terrified the Christians, who saw in the Temple's ruins proof of the truth of their religion. Wilken examines John's sermons against this atmosphere of intense religious rivalry and lively polemic between Christians, Jews, and pagans. His book calls not only for a fresh look at John Chrysostom but also for a reconsideration of the continued importance of Judaism in late antique society and in the history of Christianity. Its conclusions will be of interest to historians and theologians, and to participants in the present-day Jewish-Christian dialogue.
Download or read book The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse written by Vernon K. Robbins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11-01 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Possession and Persuasion written by Robert Hach and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2001-11-12 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Possession and Persuasion: The Rhetoric of Christian Faith is a rhetorical analysis of Christian history and theology initially prompted by my experience in a fundamentalist Christian sect. The story of this experience is briefly told in the prologue, "The Rhetoric of Surrender," which describes the "surrender" of my life to God through a commitment to an authoritarian Christian sect in Gainesville, Florida, in 1972, when I was a freshman at the University of Florida. I spent the following fifteen years, first, as a student recruit, trainee, and then leader in the founding church in Gainesville, and then, as a recruiter and trainer in other parts of the U.S. until I finally left the movement (now called the International Churches of Christ) in 1987. I subsequently combined graduate study in rhetoric with a continuing interest in biblical and historical scholarship in an effort to understand how my religious experience fit into the broader context of Christian history and theology. I concluded that the New Testament language of faith, originally formulated to persuade hearers of the Christian message by means of understanding, had been radically redefined and its effects rhetorically reengineered by the ecclesiastical Christianity which had gradually emerged after the first century; this process of rhetorical reinvention produced a language of faith that possessed its hearers by means of a mystical form of indoctrination, in the interest of building a religious empire. The degree to which ecclesiastical Christianity, throughout its history, has taken its faith-language seriously--my experience having been produced by a movement that took this language to its logical conclusion --is the degree to which its adherents experience a religious bondage that amounts to the antithesis of the spiritual freedom and social equality of the original experience of Christian faith. Part I, "Faith as Possession," addresses critical changes made by post-apostolic theologians in the apostolic discourse of the New Testament about the message of Jesus, specifically with reference to the rhetorics of "authority" (Chapter One), "knowledge" (Chapter Two), and "justice" (Chapter Three). This rhetorical reengineering of apostolic language facilitated the rise of the institutional Church, which rapidly replaced the apostolic message as the authorized mediator between God and humanity in general and between God and the community of faith in particular. That is, the dynamic of persuasion by an eschatological message was rapidly replaced by the dynamic of possession by an ecclesiastical system. The redefinition and reconceptualization of these apostolic terms amounted to the rhetorical invention of Christianity, a form of Greco-Roman mythology which has little in common with the faith of Jesus as it is revealed in the New Testament. The faith of Christianity became, and continues to be to varying degrees, a form of possession insofar as it consists of, in both a mystical and an institutional sense, belonging to "the Church," which relieves its members of their responsibility for their own identity and destiny. Part II, "Faith as Persuasion," explores the rhetoric of three apostolic ideals, which have generally received little more than lip service by post-apostolic Christianity: "understanding" (Chapter Four), "anticipation" (Chapter Five), and "freedom" (Chapter Six). These concepts are integral to persuasion as the modus operandi of the apostolic Christian faith. Understanding is a prerequisite to authentic persuasion in that persuasion, or belief, without understanding is the essence of possession. In that the meaning and power of the Christian message are a matter of the hope of resurrection to life in the coming kingdom of God, anticipation is the logical response to being understandingly persuaded of the truth of the message. And insofar as internal bondage characterizes life without hope
Download or read book Early Christian Rhetoric and 2 Thessalonians written by Frank Witt Hughes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2 Thessalonians is one of the most enigmatic letters in the New Testament, primarily because of its repeated insistence on its authorship by Paul, coupled with its warnings against forgery of Pauline letters. Modern scholarship has made a number of advances in the study of this letter, but the question of the authorship and purpose remain quite open. Hughes gives a detailed investigation of Graeco-Roman rhetorical traditions and their relationship to letters, and develops a consensus model for the identification of the various conventional parts of rhetorical discourses. He then offers an interpretation of 2 Thessalonians according to these rhetorical traditions. Given the rhetoric thus identified in the letter, an innovative theory is developed against Paul's authorship of 2 Thessalonians. In his final chapters, he suggests ways in which the pseudo-Pauline letters of the New Testament witness to a multiplicity of Pauline theologies after the Apostle's death-a diverse and pluriform 'legacy of Paul'.
Download or read book Paul s True Rhetoric written by Mark Douglas Given and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Given argues that Paul's rhetorical strategies, in Acts and in his letters, display intentional ambiguity, cunning, and deception and make vulnerable to the charge that he perpetrates sophistries.
Download or read book First Converts written by Shelly Matthews and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has often been said that rich pagan women, much more so than men, were attracted both to early Judaism and Christianity. This book provides a new reading of sources from which this truism springs, focusing on two texts from the turn of the first century, Josephus's Antiquities and Luke's Acts. The book studies representation, analyzing the repeated portrayal of rich women as aiding and/or converting to early Judaism in its various forms. It also shows how these sources can be used in reconstructing women's history, thus engaging current feminist debates about the relationship of rhetorical presentation of women in texts to historical reality. Because many of these texts speak of high-standing women's conversion to Judaism and early Christianity, this book also engages in the current debate about whether early Judaism was a missionary religion. The author argues that focusing on these stories of women converts and adherents, which have been largely ignored in previous discussions of the missionary question, sets the missionary question in a new, more adequate framework. The first chapter elucidates a story in Josephus's Antiquities of the mishaps of two Roman matrons devoted to Isis and Jewish cults by considering the common Hellenistic topos linking high-standing women, promiscuity, and religious impropriety. The remaining chapters demonstrate that in spite of this topos, Josephus, Luke, and other religious apologists did tell stories of rich women's associations with their communities for positive rhetorical effect. In so doing, the book challenges the widespread assumption that women's association with "foreign" religious cults was always derided, questions scholarly arguments about public and private roles in antiquity, and invites reflection on issues of mission and conversion within the larger framework of Greco-Roman benefaction.
Download or read book Educating Early Christians through the Rhetoric of Hell written by Meghan Henning and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2014-11-07 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meghan Henning explores the rhetorical function of the early Christian concept of hell, drawing connections to Greek and Roman systems of education, and examining texts from the Hebrew Bible, Greek and Latin literature, the New Testament, early Christian apocalypses and patristic authors.
Download or read book Early Christian Rhetoric written by Amos N. Wilder and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illuminating New Testament study depicts the power and beauty of language that speaks with the words of God and man. Words call man to battle or summon him to prayer. More and more, today man is analyzing his language and asking: What is the purpose of language? What do the words we speak mean? What is their religious significance? Dr. Wilder's extraordinary work attempts to answer these questions and, in particular, to study the qualities of the language that ushered in a new religion, the early Christian faith.
Download or read book Jewish Christianity and the History of Judaism written by Annette Yoshiko Reed and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2018-07-12 with total page 535 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Jewish-Christianity" is a contested category in current research. But for precisely this reason, it may offer a powerful lens through which to rethink the history of Jewish/Christian relations. Traditionally, Jewish-Christianity has been studied as part of the origins and early diversity of Christianity. Collecting revised versions of previously published articles together with new materials, Annette Yoshiko Reed reconsiders Jewish-Christianity in the context of Late Antiquity and in conversation with Jewish studies. She brings further attention to understudied texts and traditions from Late Antiquity that do not fit neatly into present day notions of Christianity as distinct from Judaism. In the process, she uses these materials to probe the power and limits of our modern assumptions about religion and identity.
Download or read book Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire written by Averil Cameron and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many reasons can be given for the rise of Christianity in late antiquity and its flourishing in the medieval world. In asking how Christianity succeeded in becoming the dominant ideology in the unpromising circumstances of the Roman Empire, Averil Cameron turns to the development of Christian discourse over the first to sixth centuries A.D., investigating the discourse's essential characteristics, its effects on existing forms of communication, and its eventual preeminence. Scholars of late antiquity and general readers interested in this crucial historical period will be intrigued by her exploration of these influential changes in modes of communication. The emphasis that Christians placed on language—writing, talking, and preaching—made possible the formation of a powerful and indeed a totalizing discourse, argues the author. Christian discourse was sufficiently flexible to be used as a public and political instrument, yet at the same time to be used to express private feelings and emotion. Embracing the two opposing poles of logic and mystery, it contributed powerfully to the gradual acceptance of Christianity and the faith's transformation from the enthusiasm of a small sect to an institutionalized world religion.
Download or read book The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Rhetoric written by David Edward Aune and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Early Christian rhetoric written by Amos Niven Wilder and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Vivid Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion written by Meghan Henning and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2024-02-22 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major scholarly collaboration exploring vivid visual rhetoric in the New Testament From Jesus’s miraculous walk on water to the graphic horrors of hell, New Testament authors make vivid and unforgettable images appear before their audience’s eyes. In the past decade, scholarship on early Christian use of ancient rhetorical techniques has flourished. One focus of rhetorical criticism of the New Testament has been the function of ekphrasis, or vivid visual description. In this landmark collection, leading New Testament scholars come together to probe the purpose and import of ekphrasis in early Christian literature. The research in this collection explores the relationship between vivid rhetoric and genre, taking into account technical features, authorial intent, and audience response. Specific topics include: • The New Testament’s rhetoric compared against Greco-Roman rhetorical handbooks • Juxtaposition between vivid and non-vivid rhetoric • The use of energeia in John’s Gospel to draw upon the reader’s multiple senses • Aesthetics and the grotesque in Revelation • The use of travelogue to create a virtual journey for the audience • Vivid rhetoric in early martyr literature Vivid Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion is a must-read for scholars of early Christianity and rhetorical criticism. Readers will find this collection indispensable in understanding a complex feature of the New Testament in its historical context. Contributors Contributors Bart B. Bruehler, Diane Fruchtman, Meghan Henning, Martina Kepper, Susanne Luther, Harry O. Maier, Gudrun Nassauer, Nils Neumann, Vernon K. Robbins, Gary S. Selby, Aldo Tagliabue, Sunny Kuan-Hui Wang, Annette Weissenrieder, Robyn J. Whitaker
Download or read book The Arma Christi in Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture written by Lisa H. Cooper and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arma Christi, the cluster of objects associated with Christ’s Passion, was one of the most familiar iconographic devices of European medieval and early modern culture. From the weapons used to torment and sacrifice the body of Christ sprang a reliquary tradition that produced active and contemplative devotional practices, complex literary narratives, intense lyric poems, striking visual images, and innovative architectural ornament. This collection displays the fascinating range of intellectual possibilities generated by representations of these medieval ’objects,’ and through the interdisciplinary collaboration of its contributors produces a fresh view of the multiple intersections of the spiritual and the material in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It also includes a new and authoritative critical edition of the Middle English Arma Christi poem known as ’O Vernicle’ that takes account of all twenty surviving manuscripts. The book opens with a substantial introduction that surveys previous scholarship and situates the Arma in their historical and aesthetic contexts. The ten essays that follow explore representative examples of the instruments of the Passion across a broad swath of history, from some of their earliest formulations in late antiquity to their reformulations in early modern Europe. Together, they offer the first large-scale attempt to understand the arma Christi as a unique cultural phenomenon of its own, one that resonated across centuries in multiple languages, genres, and media. The collection directs particular attention to this array of implements as an example of the potency afforded material objects in medieval and early modern culture, from the glittering nails of the Old English poem Elene to the coins of the Middle English poem ’Sir Penny,’ from garments and dice on Irish tomb sculptures to lanterns and ladders in Hieronymus Bosch’s panel painting of St. Christopher, and from the altar of the Sistine Chapel to the printed prayer books of the Reformation.
