This article explores ancient rhetorical conceptions of poetry, prose and hymn in order to better understand what should perhaps be called the epideictic or encomiastic elements of some New Testament epistles. It surveys and criticizes previous methods for isolating the supposedly poetic or hymnic portions of these texts. Furthermore, the article analyzes the hermeneutical effects of a seemingly unremarkable editorial decision, the act of indenting such texts in the New Testament. This editorial action normally signifies 'poetry', 'hymns', or 'traditional material' to a particular community of readers, namely the guild of New Testament scholarship. The article argues that the act of indenting bears more rhetorical force than has been previously acknowledged. It concludes with an ideological analysis of that editorial decision.

Great ebook you should read is The Son Of God In The Roman Worldebook any format. You can download any ebooks you wanted like EDREVERSERSECRET.COM in simple step and you can Download Now it now.

No abstract

This essay argues that the common understanding of imperial divine sonship among biblical scholars can be reframed by emphasizing the importance of adoption in Roman society and imperial ideology. A case study from the Gospel of Mark-the portrayal of Jesus' baptism-demonstrates some of the pay-off for reading the NT with a newly contextualized perspective on divine sonship. Through engagement with diverse sources from the Hellenistic and Roman eras, the dove will be interpreted as an omen and counter-symbol to the Roman eagle, which was a public portent of divine favor, election, and ascension to power.The new age has a savior figure, the greatest benefactor of all times, the divi filius…the victorious Augustus.-Helmut Koester  Some of the most stimulating recent scholarship in religious studies has been done on the interface between political and religious power, and NT scholarship is no exception. Through publications and conferences, the research on Roman political ideology, emperor worship, and early Christianity is proliferating-and much of it is excellent. To cite only a small sample of recent or representative types, one could note the text-specific studies on the Gospels,  * A version of this essay was presented at the  New England SBL Meeting. Subsequently I received helpful suggestions from many colleagues, especially Adela Yarbro Collins and the anonymous reviewer for NTS.

What is a photisterion? Translators usually render the Greek word phōtistērion (site of illumination) as ‘baptistery’ (site of immersion in water). This article reopens the study of phōtistēria, arguing that being ‘immersed’ or ‘illuminated’ evokes different senses of the concomitant meaning of the sites and rites of initiation. It situates late ancient phōtistēria from epigraphic and literary sources in their theological and liturgical contexts. The evidence from Galilee, Syria, Jordan and Cyprus corroborates the idea that many Christians of late antiquity preferred ‘illumination’ to express the composite rite of initiation in a phōtistērion, within which ‘baptism’ was one part.