Böcker av Norman R Petersen

In this groundbreaking work, Norman R. Petersen integrates contemporary literary-critical, sociological,and anthropological insights into the traditional arena of historical-critical methods. he demonstrates how these new approaches can be used to interpret biblical texts, especially Paul's letters. The Letter to Philemon serves as a case study. Yet Petersen focuses on the narrative world of Paul as well, for one cannot be truly understood without the other. This work articulates a ""sociology of letters,"" explores the social structures which underlie the social relations of the actors in Paul's world, and deals with the systems of belief, knowledge, and value that define the identities of these actors and motivate their actions. Here is cutting-edge scholarship.

Utilizing Mark and Luke-Acts as case studies, Norman Petersen moves beyond redaction criticism to show both the necessity and the possibility for literary criticism to be an integral part of the historical-critical study of biblical writings.

This provocative study of the language of the Fourth Gospel pursues the complicated but intriguing thesis that the Gospel's language is a blend of everyday, ordinary language and a ""special language"" suitable to the Johannine community. This ""special language"" transforms the ordinary language in a way that makes it into an anti-language. The oppositional character of the language, then, fuctioned socially to distinguish the Johannine believers from their opponents. By addressing the perplexing issue of the language of the Fouth Gospel in a way that has not yet been done, Professor Petersen has made his work essential for specialists in New Testament and especially in Johannine studies. The work deals with the literary, historical, and sociological features of the Fourth Gospel. Its use of diverse methodologies is one of the book's extraordinary values, reflecting the current need for interdisciplinary efforts in Johannine studies.