The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse

by Robbins,Vernon K.

• ISBN13: 9780415139977
• ISBN10: 041513997X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-10-08
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In this original study, Vernon Robbins brings together social-scientific and literary-critical approaches to explore early Christianity. Treating its canonical texts as ideological constructs, Robbins investigates Christianity as a cultural phenomenon, and expounds and develops a system of socio-rhetorical criticism. The Tapestry of Early Christian Discoursefirst 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 distinctly new insights into the development of early Christianity.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix	(1)
List of abbreviations	x	(1)
Preface	xi
1 THE CHALLENGE OF SOCIO-RHETORICAL CRITICISM	1	(17)
The relation of Christianity to culture	4	(2)
The relation of texts to society, culture and history	6	(4)
The relation of New Testament interpretation to theology	10	(1)
The relation of disciplinary methods to an interpretive analytics	11	(2)
Conclusion	13	(5)
2 REDRAWING THE BOUNDARIES WITH SOCIO-RHETORICAL CRITICISM	18	(26)
The interpreter's location and ideology	24	(3)
Inner texture	27	(3)
Intertexture	30	(3)
Social and cultural texture	33	(3)
Ideological texture	36	(4)
Conclusion	40	(4)
3 INNER TEXTURE: EVERY READING HAS A SUBTEXT	44	(52)
Repetitive-progressive texture	46	(4)
Opening-middle-closing texture	50	(3)
Narrational texture	53	(5)
Argumentative texture	58	(6)
Sensory-aesthetic texture	64	(1)
Inner texture in 1 Corinthians 9	65	(26)
Conclusion	91	(5)
4 INTERTEXTURE: EVERY COMPARISON HAS BOUNDARIES	96	(48)
Intertexture in socio-rhetorical criticism	96	(1)
Oral-scribal intertexture	97	(11)
Cultural intertexure	108	(7)
Social intertexture	115	(3)
Historical intertexture	118	(2)
Intertexture in 1 Corinthians 9	120	(23)
Conclusion	143	(1)
5 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TEXTURE: EVERY MEANING HAS A CONTEXT	144	(48)
Specific social topics in religious literature	147	(12)
Common social and cultural topics	159	(8)
Final cultural categories	167	(7)
Summary	174	(2)
Social and cultural texture in 1 Corinthians 9	176	(13)
Conclusion	189	(3)
6 IDEOLOGICAL TEXTURE: EVERY THEOLOGY HAS A POLITICS	192	(45)
Ideology in texts	193	(7)
Ideology in authoritative traditions of interpretation	200	(7)
Ideology in intellectual discourse	207	(8)
Ideology in individuals and groups	215	(5)
Ideological texture in 1 Corinthians 9	220	(15)
Conclusion	235	(2)
7 THE PROMISE OF SOCIO-RHETORICAL CRITICISM	237	(8)
Multiple textures in texts	238	(2)
Rewriting the historiography of first-century Christianity	240	(3)
Socio-rhetorical criticism and other fields of study	243	(2)
Bibliography	245	(21)
Index of scriptures and ancient texts	266	(5)
Index of modern authors	271	(3)
Index of subjects	274