Rhetoric and Theology - Figural Reading of John 9

This monograph on John 9 makes extensive use of premodern Christian exegesis as a resource for New Testament studies. The study reframes the existing critique of the two-level reading of John 9 as allegory in terms of premodern exegetical practices. It offers a hermeneutical critique of the two-level reading strategy as a kind of figural exegesis, rather than historical reconstruction, through an extensive comparison with Augustine's interpretation of John 9. A review of several premodern Christian readings of John 9 suggests an alternative way of understanding this account in terms of Greco-Roman rhetoric. John 9 resembles the rhetorical argumentation associated with chreia elaboration and the complete argument to display Jesus' identity as the Light of the World. This analysis illustrates the inseparability of form and content, rhetoric and theology, in the Fourth Gospel.

About the author

William M. Wright IV, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Product details

• Authors: William M Wright, William M. Wright
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Languages: English, German
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 03.11.2009
• EAN: 9783110221633
• ISBN: 978-3-11-022163-3
• No. of pages: 248
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 22 mm x 230 mm
• Weight: 488 g
• Series: Beihefte zur Zeitschift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft; Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche; Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft; Beihefte zur Zeitschift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft; Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche; ISSN
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; Theologie, Neues Testament, Semantik, Kritik und Exegese heiliger Texte, Exegese, Semantik, Diskursanalyse, Stilistik, Schriftauslegung, Bedeutung (semantisch) / Bedeutungslehre, Auslegung (Bibel), Bibel / Neues Testament, Johannesevangelium; Antike Rhetorik; Auslegungsgeschichte; Zwei-Ebenen-Drama; Progymnasmata; Gospel of John; Ancient Rhetoric; History of Interpretation; Two-Level Drama, RELIGION / Biblical Studies / New Testament