Semeia 35: Social-Scientific Criticism of the New Testament and Its Social World
Overview
Semeia is an experimental journal devoted to the exploration of new and emergent areas and methods of biblical criticism. Studies employing the methods, models, and findings of linguistics, folklore studies, contemporary literary criticism, structuralism, social anthropology, and other such disciplines and approaches, are invited. Although experimental in both form and content, Semeia proposes to publish work that reflects a well defined methodology that is appropriate to the material being interpreted.
Key Features
- Key perspectives on biblical criticism
- Includes bibliographies and index
Top Highlights
“The wrong thing appears in the wrong place at the wrong time.” (Page 92)
“The process of ordering a sociocultural system was called ‘purity,’ in contrast to ‘pollution,’ which stands for the violation of the classification system, its lines and boundaries. The term ‘purity’ became a jargon word for the general principle that all peoples tend to structure their worlds according to some system of order and classification.” (Pages 91–92)
“Third, full Israelites who are non-observant may be further distinguished. Public sinners, such as tax collectors and prostitutes, can be distinguished from the masses.” (Page 98)
“According to Jesus, purity does not reside on the lips or hands, but in the heart; purity is measured by the keeping of the core law of God, not the traditional ‘fences’ of men. Alternately, pollution comes not by violation of washing or dietary rules (7:18–19), which deal only with surfaces, but with sin and vice which come from within, from the heart (7:21–22). ‘All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man’ (7:23).” (Page 113)
“To keep the core clean and pure, one extended the boundary around that core, put a fence on the perimeter, and guarded that outer ‘fence.’ Hence the chief rule was ‘Make a fence around the Law’ (m. Aboth 1.1). And if a fence was appropriate around the Law as a whole, it was appropriate around individual aspects of the Law.” (Page 102)
Contributors
- John H. Elliott
- Bruce J. Malina
- Jerome H. Neyre
- Leland J. White
Product Details
- Title: Semeia 35: Social-Scientific Criticism of the New Testament and Its Social World
- Editor: John H. Elliott
- Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
- Publication Date: 1986
- Pages: 194
About John H. Elliott
John H. Elliott is professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco, a Lutheran clergyman, and a cofounder of the Context Group. In addition to numerous publications on various New Testament writings—especially from a social-scientific perspective—his books on 1 Peter include The Elect and the Holy, A Home for the Homeless, and the commentary on I-II Peter/Jude in the Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament series.
