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Exegesis
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Rhetorical Criticism
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Definition
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- Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Rhetorical criticism
is the study of that art. The rhetorical critic assumes
that the final composer of a sermon or literary work has a perspective
informed by the culture at that time but also uniquely articulated
by that author, and that the author seeks to persuade his/her
contemporaries of that perspective. The rhetorical
critic seeks to discern the author’s perspective by analyzing
the author’s argument and assessing its impact on its audience.
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- The literary work you analyze should be a homily or speech, or some other
literary form that is by nature persuasive.
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Method
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- To
examine such a speech as a rhetorical critic would, follow this
procedure:
- Determine the problem to which the author is responding. This will usually
be addressed in the opening section of the work.
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- Outline the speaker’s arguments.
- Isolate the main points - read the entire piece to get a sense
of its general shape. Locate those themes
which the author develops most extensively. There could
be anywhere from one to five (roughly) for any given
piece.
- Isolate the supporting arguments - under each
point, the author will suggest supporting arguments
or "proofs" of his position. These can be
proofs from scripture, nature or logic. List these under
the respective main points.
- Collate the supplementary metaphors the author
uses to spice up his/her argument. These will be images
drawn from warfare, nature, trade etc. which the author
uses descriptively to justify his/her supporting arguments.
List these metaphors under the appropriate supporting
arguments.
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- Analyze the argument.
- Authorities - what biblical texts and events does the speaker invoke
as his authorities?
- Order of argument - do the speaker’s points
demonstrate a progression (e.g., from strongest to weakest,
weakest to strongest)? Does the argument seem to climax
at any given point?
- Rhetorical techniques - a list of commonly
utilized rhetorical techniques is attached to this exercise.
Examine your work for evidence of these techniques.
- Re-assess the problem to which the author is responding.
- Gravity - how bad is it, given the quantity and nature of the author’s
arguments?
- Determine the stakes - what is at stake for
the author? What is he afraid of losing, and how might
this fear shape his argument?
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Rhetorical
Terms and Techniques |
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Technique
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Definition
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Example
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antistrophe
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repetition of the same word at the end of successive clauses
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arsis
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idea first stated negatively, then positively
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asyndeton
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omission of connectives
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diaporesis
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pretense of doubt
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ekphraseis
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extended descriptions; function not as diversion but as a rest for audience before returning to the main theme; purpose was to delight audience
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enthymeme
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a statement or assertion followed by a supporting reason; a common feature of deductive argument
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"You shall not make for yourself a graven image...for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting iniquity of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generation."
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epanaphora
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repetition of the same word at the beginning of a series of clauses, sentences; often phrased in the form of rhetorical questions
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hyperbole, exaggeration
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metaphors and similes
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often hack figures drawn from athletics, military, sea, pastoral life, medicine; metaphors often "heaped up" for effect
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oxymoron
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combination of two or more terms that normally contradict one another
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parachesis
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two words of different roots but with similar sound
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paradeigmata
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examples drawn from myth, nature, and life; a common feature of inductive argument
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parables of Jesus (frequently) |
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paraleipsis
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pretense of passing over a point in silence, while emphasizing that very point
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parison
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a string of parallel phrases; verbs parallel in sound; a series of clauses, similar words or prepositional phrases
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paronomasia
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similarity of sound with dissimilarity of sense
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polysyndeton
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accumulation of connectives
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Bibliography
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- Resources
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- Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric, trans. H. C. Lawson-Tancred. New York: Penguin, 1991.
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- Kennedy, George Alexander. Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian and Secular Tradition from Ancient to
Modern Times. Chapel Hill, North Carolina:
University of North Carolina Press, 1980.
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- Lanham, Richard A. A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms: A Guide for Students of English Literature. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1968.
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- Martin, Troy W., ed. Genealogies of New Testament Rhetorical Criticism. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2015.
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- Porter,
Stanley E. Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in
the Hellenistic Period (330 B.C.–A.D. 400). Leiden:
Brill, 1997. [paperback edition, 2017]
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- Method
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- Amador, J. D. H. "Where Could Rhetorical Criticism (Still) Take Us?" Currents in Research: Biblical Studies 7 (1999) 195-222.
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- Benson, Thomas W. Landmark Essays on Rhetorical
Criticism, Landmark Essays 5. Davis, California: Hermagoras,
1993.
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- Black, Edwin. Rhetorical Criticism: A Study in Method. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1978.
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- Classen,
Carl Joachim. Rhetorical Criticism of the New
Testament. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
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- Hock, Ronald F. and Edward N. O'Neil, eds. The Chreia and Ancient Rhetoric: Classroom Exercises, Writings from the Greco-Roman World 2. Atlanta/Leiden: Society of Biblical Literature/Bill, 2002. (Review)
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- Kennedy, George Alexander. New Testament Interpretation
through Rhetorical Criticism. Chapel Hill,
North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
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- Penner, Todd and Davina C. Lopez. "Rhetorical Approaches: Introducing the Art of Persuasion in Paul and Pauline Studies." In Studying Paul's Letters: Contemporary Perspectives and Methods (ed. Joseph A. Marchal; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012) 33-52.
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- Robbins,
Vernon K. Exploring the Texture of Texts: A
Guide to Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation. Philadelphia:
Trinity Press International, 1996.
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- Robbins, Vernon K., Robert H. von Thaden, Jr. and Bart B. Bruehler, eds. Foundations for Sociorhetorical Exploration: A Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity Reader, Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity 4. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016.
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- Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. Rhetoric and Ethic: The Politics of Biblical Studies. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999.
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- Trible, Phyllis. Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method, and the Book of Jonah, Guides to Biblical Scholarship, Old Testament Series. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995.
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- Wanamaker, Charles A. "Epistolary vs. Rhetorical Analysis: Is a Synthesis Possible?" In The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis? (ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Beutler; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000) 255-86.
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- Watson, Duane F. and Alan J. Hauser. Rhetorical Criticism of the Bible: A Comprehensive Bibliography with
Notes on History and Method, Biblical Interpretation
Series. New York: E. J. Brill, 1994.
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- Applications
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- Campbell,
Barth. "Flesh and Spirit in 1 Cor 5:5: An Exercise in Rhetorical Criticism of the New Testament." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 36:3 (1993) 331-42.
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- --------. Honor, Shame, and the Rhetoric of 1
Peter, SBLDS 160. Atlanta: Scholars Press,
1998.
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- Church, F. F. "Rhetorical Structure and Design in Paul's Letter to Philemon. Harvard Theological Review 91 (1978) 17-33.
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- DeSilva,
David A. Perseverance in Gratitude. A Socio-Rhetorical
Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000.
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- Donfried, Karl P. "The Epistolary and Rhetorical Context of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12." In The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis? (ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Beutler; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000) 31-60.
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- Eriksson,
Anders, Thomas H. Olbricht, and Walter Ubelacker, eds.
Rhetorical Argumentation in Biblical Texts: Essays from
the Lund 2000 Conference, Emory Studies in Early Christianity. Philadelphia:
Trinity Press International, 2002. (Review)
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- Fotopoulos, John. Food Offered to Idols in Roman Corinth: A Social-Rhetorical Reconsideration of 1 Corinthians 8:1–11:1, WUNT 2, 151. Tübingen: Paul Mohr, 2003.
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- Given,
Mark Douglas. Paul's True Rhetoric: Ambiguity,
Cunning and Deception in Greece and Rome, Emory Studies
in Early Christianity. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:
Trinity Press International, 2001. (Review)
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- Harvey,
John D. Listening to the Text: Oral Patterns
in Paul's Letters. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Baker, 1999.
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- Ho, Daniel. Paul and the Creation of a Counter-Cultural Community: A Rhetorical Analysis of 1 Cor. 5–11:1 in Light of the Social Lives of the Corinthians, The Library of New Testament Studies. New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015.
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- Hoppe, Rudolf. "The Epistolary and Rhetorical Context of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12: A Response to Karl P. Donfried." In The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis? (ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Beutler; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000) 61-8.
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- Kern,
Philip H. Rhetoric and Galatians: Assessing
an Approach to Paul's Epistle, SNTSMS 101. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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- Kim,
Johann D. God, Israel, and the Gentiles: Rhetoric
and Situation in Romans 9-11, SBLDS 176. Atlanta:
Society of Biblical Literature, 2000.
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- Kittredge,
Cynthia Briggs. "Corinthian Women Prophets
and Paul's Argumentation in 1 Corinthians." In
Paul and Politics: Ekklesia, Israel, Imperium, Interpretation. Essays
in Honor of Krister Stendahl (ed. Richard A. Horsley;
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 2000). (Review)
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- Krentz, Edgar. "1 Thessalonians: Rhetorical Flourishes and Formal Constraints." In The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis? (ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Beutler; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000) 287-318.
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- Lenchak,
Timothy A. "Choose Life!": A Rhetorical-Critical
Investigation of Deuteronomy 28:69-30:20, Analecta Biblica
129. Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1993.
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- Noegel,
Scott B., ed. Puns and Pundits: Word Play in
the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Literature. Bethesda,
Maryland: CDL, 2000.
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- Porter,
Stanley E. and Dennis L. Stamps, eds. The
Rhetorical Interpretation of Scripture: Essays from the
1996 Malibu Conference, JSNTSup 180. Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.
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- Renz,
Thomas. The Rhetorical Function of the Book
of Ezekiel. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
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- Walton, Steve. "What Has Aristotle to Do with Paul? Rhetorical Criticism and 1 Thessalonians." Tyndale Bulletin 46:2 (1995) 229-50.
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- Weima, Jeffrey A. D. "The Function of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 and the Use of Rhetorical Criticism: A Response to Otto Merk." In The Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis? (ed. Karl P. Donfried and Johannes Beutler; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000) 114-31.
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- Welborn,
L. L. Politics and Rhetoric in the Corinthian
Epistles. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University
Press, 1997.
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- Witherington, Ben, III. The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997.
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- --------. Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1995.
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- --------. The
Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary.
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001.
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- Young, David M. and Michael Strickland. The Rhetoric of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017.
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