The New Testament Amoung the Writings of Antiquity (Biblical Seminar)
The New Testament Amoung the Writings of Antiquity (Biblical Seminar)

The New Testament Amoung the Writings of Antiquity (Biblical Seminar)

by Detlev Dormeyer

5 Rank Score: 5.2 from 2 reviews, 0 featured collections, and 0 user libraries
Pages 390
Publisher Sheffield Academic Press
Published 9/1/1999
ISBN-13 9781850758600

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Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998. Pp. 324, Paperback, $28.50, ISBN 1850758603. Markus Öhler University of Vienna A-1090, Austria Dieses Werk bietet, soviel sei zuvor gesagt, eine gute "Einführung" (dieser Untertitel der deutschen Version aus dem Jahr 1993 wurde allerdings für die Übersetzung fallengelassen) in die gegenwärtige Diskussion zur literarischen Gestalt des Neuen Testaments. Das Buch besteht aus drei großen Teilen: Zunächst beschäftigt sich Dormeyer ausführlich mit der grundsätzlichen Problematik (17-82), sodann behandelt er die mündlichen Gattungen des Neuen Testaments (83-204), um schließlich die schriftlichen "Genres" zu untersuchen (205-55). Der erste Teil beginnt mit einem Abriß der formgeschichtlichen Arbeit von Martin Luther bis zum "New Criticism" (letzterer allerdings nur sehr knapp). Er schließt mit dem Vorsatz "to connect modern literal-critical, linguistic und structural theories to the theories of literature und und rhetoric in antiquity, und to integrate them into historical-critical exegesis" (27). Rezeptionsästhetische und andere "postmoderne" Zugänge bleiben dabei allerdings unberücksichtigt, obwohl daraus durchaus auch für gattungs- und formgeschichtliche Fragestellungen neue Aspekte zu gewinnen wären. Eine zweite Vorbemerkung beschäftigt sich mit Jesus, "the teacher and prophet of the 'Scriptures'" (28-39). Darin rekonstruiert Dormeyer die verschiedenen Rollen Jesu (Weisheitslehrer, Wundertäter, Prophet) und damit - nach seiner Meinung - die Basis des Neuen Testaments. "On the one hand, Jesus' roles were anchored in Old Testament and early Jewish traditions, but on the other, they were also open to the parallel, Hellenistic roles of the peripatetic teacher of philosophy" (33). [Full Review]
Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998. Pp. 324, Paperback, $28.50, ISBN 1850758603. Birger A. Pearson Emeritus, University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106 This book, originally published in German in 1993, treats the forms and genres of the New Testament in comparison with those employed in ancient Greco-Roman and Jewish literature. Richly documented, the book underscores the special character of the NT as a product of religious and cultural syncretism, positively understood (p. 258). The first chapter is a brief history of the "literary approach" to the NT, which the author concludes with a call for a multiplicity of methods and approaches. Surprising here is the statement that "[t]he priority of Mark's Gospel is ... unchallenged today" (p. 20), in view of those (William Farmer et al.) who advocate a version of the "Griesbach hypothesis." Jesus of Nazareth, "Teacher and Prophet of the 'Scriptures,'" is the focus of chapter 2. Jesus is presented as an "apocalyptic, charismatic wisdom teacher and prophet," who received the kind of education in Israel's Scriptures that was available to Jews in his Galilean homeland (p. 28). Enjoying the broader base of scribal education advocated earlier by Ben Sira, Jesus was representative of "a group of scribes from a humble background" (p. 30). He was also an apocalyptically-oriented prophet who "reactivated the charismatic, archaic role of prophet and miracle-worker like Moses and Elijah" (p. 32). Given the "widespread bilingualism in Galilee, we must also assume Jesus knew Greek" (p. 34). [Full Review]