Configuring Nicodemus: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Complex Characterization (The Library of New Testament Studies) - Softcover

Michael R. Whitenton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0567695549 ISBN 13: 9780567695543

Publisher: T&T Clark, 2020

Synopsis

Michael Whitenton offers a fresh perspective on the characterization of Nicodemus, focusing on the benefit of Hellenistic rhetoric and the cognitive sciences for understanding audience construals of characters in ancient narratives.

Whitenton builds an interdisciplinary approach to ancient characters, utilizing cognitive science, Greek stock characters, ancient rhetoric, and modern literary theory. He then turns his attention to the characterization of Nicodemus, where he argues that Nicodemus would likely be understood initially as a dissembling character, only to depart from that characterization later in the narrative, suggesting a journey toward Johannine faith. Whitenton presents a compelling argument: many in an ancient audience would construe Nicodemus in ways that suggest his development from doubt and suspicion to commitment and devotion.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Whitenton is Lecturer in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core at Baylor University, USA. He is the author of Hearing Kyriotic Sonship: A Cognitive and Rhetorical Approach to the Characterization of Mark’s Jesus (2017). Michael’s most recent articles have been published in the Journal of Biblical Literature, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, and Journal for the Study of the New Testament, among others.

Edition details

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0567695549
• ISBN 13: 9780567695543
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192