The Origins of Early Christian Literature

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-1-108-83530-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 325 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 531 g

Conventional approaches to the Synoptic gospels argue that the gospel authors acted as literate spokespersons for their religious communities. Whether described as documenting intra-group 'oral traditions' or preserving the collective perspectives of their fellow Christ-followers, these writers are treated as something akin to the Romantic poet speaking for their Volk - a questionable framework inherited from nineteenth-century German Romanticism. In this book, Robyn Faith Walsh argues that the Synoptic gospels were written by elite cultural producers working within a dynamic cadre of literate specialists, including persons who may or may not have been professed Christians. Comparing a range of ancient literature, her ground-breaking study demonstrates that the gospels are creative works produced by educated elites interested in Judean teachings, practices, and paradoxographical subjects in the aftermath of the Jewish War and in dialogue with the literature of their age. Walsh's study thus bridges the artificial divide between research on the Synoptic gospels and Classics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Walsh, Robyn Faith

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften Neues Testament: Exegese, Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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.

Über Autor(innen)

Walsh, Robyn Faith
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.