Table Of Contentl i b r a ry o f n e w t e s ta m e n t s t u d i e s
rhetoric and the
new testament
essays from the 1992
heidelberg conference
edited by
stanley e. porter and
thomas h. olbricht
JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
90
Executive Editor
Stanley E. Porter
Editorial Board
Richard Bauckham, David Catchpole, R. Alan Culpepper,
Joanna Dewey, James D.G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans, Robert Fowler,
Robert Jewett, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Dan O. Via
Sheffield Academic Press
Rhetoric and the
New Testament
Essays from the 1992
Heidelberg Conference
edited by
Stanley E. Porter
and
Thomas H. Olbricht
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Supplement Series 90
Copyright © 1993, 2001 Sheffield Academic Press
Reprinted 2001
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19KingfieldRoad
Sheffield SI 1 9AS
England
www.SheffieldAcademicPress.com
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Rhetoric and the New Testament: Essays
from the 1992 Heidelberg Conference.—
(JSNT Supplement Series, ISSN 0143-5108;
No. 90)
I. Porter, Stanley E. II. Olbricht,
Thomas H. III. series
EISBN 9781850754497
CONTENTS
Preface 9
List of Contributors 11
Abbreviations 14
Dedication to Wilhelm Wuellner 17
Introduction: The Heidelberg Papers in Perspective 21
PARTI
RHETORIC AND NEW TESTAMENT INTERPRETATION
FRANK W. HUGHES
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16.19-31)
and Graeco-Roman Rhetoric 29
FOLKER SIEGERT
Mass Communication and Prose Rhythm in Luke-Acts 42
J. IANH. MCDONALD
Rhetorical Issue and Rhetorical Strategy in Luke 10.25-37
and Acts 10.1-11.18 59
DANIEL MARGUERAT
The End of Acts (28.16-31) and the Rhetoric of Silence 74
JAMES J. MURPHY
Early Christianity as a 'Persuasive Campaign':
Evidence from the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of Paul 90
STANLEY E. PORTER
The Theoretical Justification for Application of Rhetorical
Categories to Pauline Epistolary Literature 100
6 Rhetoric and the New Testament
DAVID HELLHOLM
Amplificatio in the Macro-Structure of Romans 123
JOHANNES N. VORSTER
Strategies of Persuasion in Romans 1.16-17 152
MARCSCHOENI
The Hyperbolic Sublime as a Master Trope in Romans 171
DENNIS L. STAMPS
Rethinking the Rhetorical Situation:
The Entextualization of the Situation in New Testament Epistles 193
JOOPSMTT
Argument and Genre of 1 Corinthians 12-14 211
DUANE F.WATSON
Paul's Rhetorical Strategy in 1 Corinthians IS 231
GLENN HOLLAND
Speaking Like a Fool: Irony in 2 Corinthians 10-13 250
C. JOACHIM CLASSEN
St Paul's Epistles and Ancient Greek and Roman Rhetoric 265
JEFFREY T. REED
Using Ancient Rhetorical Categories to Interpret
Paul's Letters: A Question of Genre 292
A.H. SNYMAN
Persuasion in Philippians 4.1-20 325
CLAUDIO BASEVI AND JUAN CHAPA
Philippians 2.6-11: The Rhetorical Function of a Pauline 'Hymn* 338
JOHN W. MARSHALL
Paul's Ethical Appeal in Philippians 357
THOMAS H. OLBRICHT
Hebrews as Amplification 375
Contents 7
PART II
RHETORIC AND QUESTIONS OF METHOD
KLAUS BERGER
Rhetorical Criticism, New Form Criticism
and New Testament Hermeneutics 390
BERNARD LATEGAN
Textual Space as Rhetorical Device 397
PDETERJ.J. BOTHA
The Verbal Art of the Pauline Letters:
Rhetoric, Performance and Presence 409
JEFFREY A. CRAFTON
The Dancing of an Attitude: Burkean Rhetorical Criticism
and the Biblical Interpreter 429
VERNON K. ROBBINS
Rhetoric and Culture: Exploring Types of
Cultural Rhetoric in a Text 443
LAURITHUR6N
On Studying Ethical Argumentation and Persuasion
in the New Testament 464
ANGELICO-S ALVATORE DI MARCO
Rhetoric and Hermeneutic—On a Rhetorical Pattern:
Chiasmus and Circularity 479
WILHELM WUELLNER
Biblical Exegesis in the Light of the History
and Historicity of Rhetoric and the Nature of the
Rhetoric of Religion 492
Index of References 514
Index of Authors 530
PREFACE
The publishing of Hans Dieter Betz's commentary on Galatians
marked the rediscovery of rhetorical analysis of Scripture in
America. Ancient rhetoric was rediscovered by English professors
before World War I, resulting in a new association of professors spe-
cializing in speech, now designated the Speech Communication
Association. Once again rhetoric was rediscovered by composition
professors after World War II. Some interest in ancient rhetoric
continued among classical scholars in America from the nineteenth
century. With these developments and those elsewhere, internationally
rhetoric has come to the forefront in various disciplines in the past
two decades, and a number of associations with rhetoric in the title
have been generated.
In biblical studies a special interest in rhetorical analysis developed
on the west coast of the USA because of the work and publications of
Wilhelm Wuellner, Burton Mack, James Hester, Stanley Porter,
Jeffrey Reed, Ronald Hock and myself. Several papers have been
presented at regional meetings and a special study group has been
created in the Western Regional meetings of the Society of Biblical
Literature.
In 1990 it occurred to me that while Americans interested in
rhetorical analysis met with some frequency, no international confer-
ences of rhetorical specialists had convened. Eventually with the
support of Wuellner and Hester, the decision was made to hold the
conference at Pepperdine University's Moore Haus in Heidelberg in
July of 1992.
The next task was collecting the names of perspective conferees. We
hoped to have more Europeans than Americans. We also hoped for
some mix of biblical scholars, speech rhetoricians and classicists. We
had in mind a working group of about thirty persons, with a few
other attendees permitted. By the time we wqre ready to send out
