Semeia 36: Early Christian Apocalypticism: Genre and Social Setting
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
“In light of the suggestions made by Hellholm and Aune, the following addition to the definition of ‘apocalypse’ in Semeia 14 may be made: intended to interpret present, earthly circumstances in light of the supernatural world and of the future, and to influence both the understanding and the behavior of the audience by means of divine authority.” (Page 7)
“The definition proposed by the Apocalypse Group is the following: ‘Apocalypse’ is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial insofar as it involves another, supernatural world (Collins, 1979: 9).” (Page 2)
“David Hellholm has proposed that the definition in Semeia 14 be expanded to include function: ‘intended for a group in crisis with the purpose of exhortation and/or consolation by means of divine authority’” (Page 6)
“‘intended for a group in crisis with the purpose of exhortation and/or consolation by means of divine authority.’27” (Page 27)
“Some questions arise, however, about Hellholm’s proposed addition.” (Page 6)
Contributors
- David E. Aune
- Adela Yarbro Collins
- Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
- David Hellholm
- Martha Himmelfarb
- Carolyn Osiek
- Leonard Thompson
Product Details
- Title: Semeia 36: Early Christian Apocalypticism: Genre and Social Setting
- Editor: Adela Yarbro Collins
- Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
- Publication Date: 1986
- Pages: 174
About Adela Yarbro Collins
Adela Yarbro Collins is Buckingam professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale University. Among her otehr books is Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism
