Inventing Hebrews: Design and Purpose in Ancient Rhetoric: 171 (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, Series Number 171) - Hardcover

Martin, Michael Wade; Whitlark, Jason A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1108429467 ISBN 13: 9781108429467

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Inventing Hebrews examines a perennial topic in the study of the Letter to the Hebrews, its structure and purpose. Michael Wade Martin and Jason A. Whitlark undertake at thorough synthesis of the ancient theory of invention and arrangement, providing a new account of Hebrews' design. The key to the speech's outline, the authors argue, is in its use of 'disjointed' arrangement, a template ubiquitous in antiquity but little discussed in modern biblical studies. This method of arrangement accounts for the long-observed pattern of alternating epideictic and deliberative units in Hebrews as blocks of narratio and argumentatiorespectively. Thus the 'letter' may be seen as a conventional speech arranged according to the expectations of ancient rhetoric (exordium, narratio, argumentatio, peroratio), with epideictic comparisons of old and new covenant representatives (narratio) repeatedly enlisted in amplification of what may be viewed as the central argument of the speech (argumentatio), the recurring deliberative summons for perseverance. Resolving a long-standing conundrum, this volume offers a hermeneutical tool necessary for interpreting Hebrews, as well as countless other speeches from Greco-Roman antiquity.

About this title

About the Authors

Michael Wade Martin is a Professor of New Testament in the Alfred and Patricia Smith College of Biblical Studies at Lubbock Christian University. He is the author of Judas and the Rhetoric of Comparison in the Fourth Gospel (2010) and co-author of Ancient Rhetoric and the New Testament (forthcoming).

Jason A. Whitlark is an Associate Professor of New Testament in Baylor University's Honors College. He also serves as the Assistant Faculty Director of the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core. He is the author of Enabling Fidelity to God: Perseverance in Hebrews in Light of the Ancient Reciprocity Systems of the Ancient Mediterranean World (2009) and Resisting Empire: Rethinking the Purpose of the Letter to the 'Hebrews' (2014).

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108429467
• ISBN 13: 9781108429467
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 318