Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: I n the first of this two-part ARC article (Thompson 2000, 115-42), I suggested that the interpretive process of ancient religious texts such as the Christian New Testament writings must account for the role of extratextual elements such as ancient literary expectations and conventions.Central to ancient discussions on poetics and rhetoric was the concern for the potential elicited response from the audience.Because of that concern, I contended that the interpretation of such texts cannot focus merely on the text but also on what may happen in and after the encounter with that text by persons of the audience.That is to say, one's readings and interpretations of texts from the Greco-Roman world, particularly religious texts, must move beyond the written texts themselves and account for what those texts may poten tially do both among and within those who received them.This latent social function of ancient texts is, in varying degrees, dependent on the author's creative role in the composition of a given work.While ancient literary thought focused specifically on the au thor's creative and imaginative work in poetry and oratory, one finds that ancient discussions regarding Greco-Roman historiography1 also
Author: Richard R. Thompson
Institution: Olivet Nazarene University
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4386766037