In this Book
- What's in the Word: Rethinking the Socio-Rhetorical Character of the New Testament
- Book
- 2009
- Published by: Baylor University Press
Written in clear, and at times colorful, prose, Ben Witherington’s What’s in the Word explains how the recognition of the oral and socio-rhetorical character of the New Testament and its environment necessitates a change in how the New Testament literature is read. Expanding on the work in which he has been fruitfully engaged for over a quarter century, Witherington challenges the previously assured results of historical criticism and demonstrates chapter by chapter how the socio-rhetorical study shifts the paradigm.
Taken together, the chapters in What’s in the Word coalesce around three of Witherington’s ongoing academic concerns: orality and rhetoric; New Testament history, including issues of authenticity and canonicity; and the exegesis of given words in their canonical and socio-cultural contexts. Always unpredictable, this book never fails to pique interest and proffer instruction.
Table of Contents
- Invitation to the Dance
- pp. 1-5
- 8. What's in a Word? Part Two—Porneia
- pp. 103-111
- Scripture Index
- pp. 189-192
- Index of Subjects and Authors
- pp. 193-195