Origins of Early Christian Literature - Contextualizing the New Testament Within Greco-Roman Literary Culture

Conventional approaches to the Synoptic gospels argue that the gospel authors acted as literate spokespersons for religious communities, akin to the Romantic poet speaking for the common folk. This book argues that they were written by educated elites in dialogue with Greco-Roman literature, not exclusively by and for Christian communities.

List of contents

1. The myth of Christian origins; 2. The Romantic 'big bang': German Romanticism and inherited methodology; 3. Authorship in antiquity: specialization and social formations; 4. Redescribing early Christian literature: the gospels, the Satyrica, and anonymous sources; 5. The gospels as subversive biography.

About the author

Robyn Faith Walsh is Assistant Professor of the New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Miami. Editor of the Database of Religious History, she has published articles in Classical Quarterly and Jewish Studies Quarterly, among other publications.

Product details

• Authors: Robyn Faith Walsh
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.02.2023
• EAN: 9781108793131
• ISBN: 978-1-108-79313-1
• No. of pages: 245
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; BIBLES / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, RELIGION / Christianity / History, RELIGION / Christianity / General, Christianity, History of Religion, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, New Testaments