Early Christian Paraenesis in Context

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZNW) is one of the oldest and most highly regarded international scholarly book series in the field of New Testament studies. Since 1923 it has been a forum for seminal works focusing on Early Christianity and related fields. The series is grounded in a historical-critical approach and also explores new methodological approaches that advance our understanding of the New Testament and its world.

An up-to-date discussion of early Christian paraenesis in its Graeco-Roman and Hellenistic Jewish contexts in the light of one hundred years of scholarship, issuing from a research project by Nordic and international scholars. The concept of paraenesis is basic to New Testament scholarship but hardly anywhere else. How is that to be explained? The concept is also, notoriously, without any agreed-upon definition and it is even contested. Can it at all be salvaged? This volume reassesses the scholarly discussion of paraenesis - both the concept and the phenomenon - since Paul Wendland and Martin Dibelius and argues for a number of ways in which it may continue to be fruitful.

Auteur

Troels Engberg-Pedersen is Professor of New Testament at the Faculty of Theology, Copenhagen University, Denmark. James M. Starr is Lecturer of Exegetic Theology (New Testament) at Johannelund Theological Seminary, Uppsala, Sweden.

Résumé

"The introduction and the seventeen essays that comprise this volume result in a rich insight into the concept of paraenesis both in early Christianity and as a part of the wider cultural milieu in which this new religious movement developed. The editors' introduction is invaluable, orienting readers to the most recent and significant discussions surrounding this topic. [...] This is a significant volume that both summarizes recent discussions and advances the debate surrounding the definition of paraenesis and the use of this rhetorical category in the New Testament and the wider cultural environment."
Paul Foster in: Expository Times 5 /2006

"[...] ist in dem Band umfangreiche philologische Arbeit geleistet worden. Der Problemkreis von protreptischer bzw. exhortatorischer Rede und die Frage, wieweit und in welcher Weise Paränese als literarische Subgattung oder als intentionale oder inhaltliche Größe in diesem Zusammenhang zu verstehen sei, werden gründlich, weiträumig und z. T. mit überraschenden Ergebnissen ausgeleuchtet."
Oda Wischmeyer in: Theologische Literaturzeitung 12/2005

Contenu
Troels Engberg-Pedersen/James M. Starr: Introduction I. What is Paraenesis? Popkes: Paraenesis in the New Testament: An Exercise in Conceptuality · Troels Engberg-Pedersen: The Concept of Paraenesis · James M. Starr: Was Paraenesis for Beginners? · Diana Swancutt: Paraenesis in Light of Protrepsis: Troubling the Typical Dichotomy II. Paraenesis in the Jewish and Graeco-Roman World Johannes Thomas: The Paraenesis of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs between Torah and Jewish Wisdom · Stephen Westerholm: Four Maccabees: A Paraenetic Address? · H.D. Betz: Paraenesis and the Concept of God According to Oratio XII (Olympikos) of Dio of Prusa III. Paraenesis in the New Testament Reidar Aasgaard: "Brotherly Advice": Christian Siblingship and New Testament Paraenesis · Anders Klostergaard Petersen: Paraenesis in Pauline Scholarship and in Paul - An Intricate Relationship · Abraham J. Malherbe: Paraenesis in the Epistle to Titus · Walter Übelacker: Paraenesis or Paraklesis - Hebrews as a Test-Case · Lauri Thurén: Motivation as the Core of Paraenesis - Remarks on Peter and Paul as Persuaders · Karl Olav Sandnes: Revised Conventions in Early Christian Paraenesis - "Working Good" in 1 Peter · Jonas Holmstrand: Is There Paraenesis in 1 John? IV. Early Christian Paraenesis after the New Testament Clarence E. Glad: The Rhetoric of Moral Exhortation in Clement's Pedagogue · David Hellholm and Vemund Blomkvist: Parainesis as an Ancient Genre-Designation: The Case of the 'Euthalian Apparatus' and the 'Affiliated Argumenta' · Samuel Rubenson: Wisdom, Paraenesis and the Roots of Monasticism