Neotestamentica

The editors, Vernon K. Robbins, Robert H. von Thaden Jr. and Bart B. Bruehler, begin the volume with a glossary of technical terms and phrases associated with sociorhetorical interpretation (SRI). It serves as an orientation for scholars who are new in the field of SRI and a reminder to scholars who have left the field and wish to return. The editors give a comprehensive preview of the articles in the volume. The volume is a multiauthored work divided into five parts, made up of twelve chapters and written by ten distinguished scholars. It presents a strong case for SRI propounded by Vernon K. Robbins, specifically how it has been engaged and the new avenues it has created for biblical interpretation from 1994 to 2007. It demonstrates the "interpretive analytic" nature and multifaceted approach of SRI as distinct from other interpretative methods. In the midst of the plurality of biblical methods, the volume shows how such methods can be amalgamated for a deeper insight into the ancient text. Key issues in the volume include textures, space, topoi and conceptual blending models. Besides the article of Jon L. Berquist, the articles are reprinted with permission from their initial publishers. This compilation makes previously separated articles in various publications accessible in one volume. The articles are arranged topically, which makes it easier for the critical analysis of related issues.

Part one ("The Emergence of Sociorhetorical Interpretation") features one article written by Vernon K. Robbins. His objective is to discuss the emergence and framework of SRI using Luke 1:26–56 as a test case. Robbins defines SRI as a text-based or exegetically oriented programmatic analytic approach that is interdisciplinary. It is the combination of various methods of biblical interpretation that draw on ancient rhetoric of anthropology and social criticism. Robbins acknowledges the work of Wayne A. Meeks, who demanded that social and cultural scopes be used to interpret early Christianity, serving as the foundation and bait that invited sociorhetorical criticism of the biblical text in the early 1970s (33). Following the lead of Helmut Koester, James S. Robinson, Hans Dieter Betz, Robert C. Tannehill, Bruce J. Malina, Kenneth [End Page 145] Burke, John H. Elliott and Jerome H. Neyrey, among others, who advocated for social-scientific and narratological criticism of the Bible, Robbins propounds a four-textured sociorhetorical criticism: (1) inner texture; (2) intertexture; (3) social and cultural texture; and (4) ideological texture. It shares some ethos with the fourfold rhetorical strategies of Bernard Brandon Scott (1989) and Clarice J. Martin (1993), which were published earlier.

Robbins trials the fourfold texture to exegete Luke 1:26–56. Inner texture analysis shows the repetition of God, the angel, the Lord, the Holy Spirit, Mary and Elizabeth in a progressive form, demonstrating the beginning, middle and ending of the text, as well as providing an analysis of the text's characters. This approach identifies topoi in the text and the form of argumentation. Intertextually, references to nouns such as "angel" and "Gabriel" recall the contextualisation and/or reconfiguration of the OT in new contexts. The social and cultural texture brings to mind social institutions and systems, particularly humiliation and the place of women. Ideologically, it demonstrates a patriarchal hierarchy that also acknowledges the efforts of women.

Part two ("Reworking Rhetoric and Topos") begins with the article of George A. Kennedy. He reworks and interprets the rhetoric of Aristotle for the contemporary person. Kennedy asserts that although John M. Rist had attempted to do the same, he did not consider the various epochs in the rhetoric of Aristotle. Rist's work presumed that Aristotle wrote and finished the works at around 333 BCE, while they were in fact written on different occasions and at different locations, which affected the rhetoric expressed. The rhetoric of Aristotle concentrates on topos, the location of topics...