What do you think?
Rate this book
The New Testament, an introduction: Proclamation and parenesis, myth and history
Christian and Biblical Studies, Theology, World Religions
- GenresReligionNonfiction
523 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
2 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 18, 2021
How is it that this quite significant and still important book has no reviews? The author died just short of his 56th birthday; his abrupt and early demise, however, was considered “a heavy loss to the international community of New Testament scholars and everyone who recognized the wider significance of his work.” (JOURNAL OF RELIGION tribute issue, vol. 64, #4)
The long-term importance of Perrin and of this book lies in his approach to parenesis (or paraenesis), an umbrella term for exhortation or instruction and appropriated by NT scholars to describe moral instruction. Perrin’s contention (at least at the time that he brought out this book) was that the Evangelists, whoever they might have been, and the other NT authors redacted oral and written material available to them to emphasize message over historicity.
“We have characterized the New Testament literature as fundamentally proclamation and parenesis.” (p. 21) “The texts of the New Testament are to a large extent the result of a long period in which a tradition was established and in which that tradition was instantly interpreted, added to, and further reinterpreted.” (p. 34) So “we may speak of the historical Jesus as he actually was, or we may speak of the historic Jesus as interpreted in his significance for future generations.” (p. 28) “The parenetical material in the New Testament is sometimes specifically Christian exhortation. …But at other times the Christian writers simply borrow their material from the moralizing literature of the Hellenistic world.” (p. 20)
As with all forms of biblical criticism, Redaction Criticism has its earnest proponents and equally earnest opponents. When all goes well, intellectual fistfights don’t break out or at least are conducted with civility. Do your homework and feel free to join the combat.
The long-term importance of Perrin and of this book lies in his approach to parenesis (or paraenesis), an umbrella term for exhortation or instruction and appropriated by NT scholars to describe moral instruction. Perrin’s contention (at least at the time that he brought out this book) was that the Evangelists, whoever they might have been, and the other NT authors redacted oral and written material available to them to emphasize message over historicity.
“We have characterized the New Testament literature as fundamentally proclamation and parenesis.” (p. 21) “The texts of the New Testament are to a large extent the result of a long period in which a tradition was established and in which that tradition was instantly interpreted, added to, and further reinterpreted.” (p. 34) So “we may speak of the historical Jesus as he actually was, or we may speak of the historic Jesus as interpreted in his significance for future generations.” (p. 28) “The parenetical material in the New Testament is sometimes specifically Christian exhortation. …But at other times the Christian writers simply borrow their material from the moralizing literature of the Hellenistic world.” (p. 20)
As with all forms of biblical criticism, Redaction Criticism has its earnest proponents and equally earnest opponents. When all goes well, intellectual fistfights don’t break out or at least are conducted with civility. Do your homework and feel free to join the combat.
Displaying 1 of 1 review