The New Literary Criticism and the New Testament

This publication presents the rich variety of critical methodologies in contemporary literary study of the New Testament. The tradition of study represented in the essays lies at the conjunction of developments in biblical studies and literary criticism: (1) the exhaustion of New Testament historical criticism in general and redaction criticism in particular; (2) the waning of Formalist-New Critical approaches in literary study; and (3) the emphasis upon the text in terms of language and discourse as the 'free play of signifiers'. The essays deal with theory, exegesis, and their interdependence in this new literary context. However, contributions of earlier epochs in the history of literary criticism and New Testament study are integrated into current approaches. For example, the issue of reference originating in the mimetic theories of classical antiquity is raised implicitly and explicitly. Implications of literary study for theology are suggested. The relationship between redaction-critical and literary approaches is examined. Theoretical and exegetical essays growing out of feminist literary study are offered. Orality, allegory, deconstruction, ideology, sociological criticism, rhetorical criticism, narrative criticism, as well as other themes and methods are discussed in the essays' treatment of writings of the New Testament. A rich variety of critical methodologies in contemporary literary study of the New Testament

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Contributors to this Volume
• Introduction - Elizabeth Struthers Malbon; Edgar V. McKnight
• Redaction Criticism: Has the Hauptstrasse Become a Sackgasse? - John R. Donahue
• The Major Importance of the Minor Characters in Mark - Elizabeth Struthers Malbon
• 'Watch How You Listen' (Luke 8:18): Jesus and the Rhetoric of Perception in LukeActs - John A. Darr
• Reading Tabitha: A Feminist Reception History - Janice Capel Anderson
• The Gospel of Mark as an Oral-Aural Event: Implications for Interpretation - Joanna Dewey
• Socio-Rhetorical Criticism: Mary Elizabeth and the Magnificat as a Test Case - Vernon K. Robbins
• 'Since God is One': Rhetoric as Theology and History in Pauls Romans - Antoinette Clark Wire
• Allegories of Hagar: Reading Galatians 4:21-31 with Postmodern Feminist Eyes - Elizabeth A. Castelli
• Peering into the Abyss: A Postmodern Reading of the Biblical Bottomless Pit - Tina Pippin
• How Jesus' Risen Body Became a Cadaver - Stephen D. Moore
• The Ethics of Reading Deconstructively, or Speaking Face-to-Face: The Samaritan Woman Meets Derrida at the Well - Gary A. Phillips
• A Sheep in Wolves Clothing: An Option in Contemporary New Testament Hermeneutics - Edgar V. McKnight
• Matthews Dark Light and the Human Condition - Dan O. Via
• What Is It About? Reference in New Testament Literary Criticism - William A. Beardslee
• Index of References
• Index of Authors
• Copyright