Description
Book SynopsisIn De-Introducing the New Testament, the authors argue for a renewed commitment to the defamiliarizing power of New Testament studies and a reclaiming of the discipline as one that exemplifies the best practices of the humanities.
- A new approach that asks us to defamiliarize' what we think we know about the New Testament, articulating themes and questions about its study that encourage further reflection and engagement
- Looks behind the traditional ways in which the NT is introduced to critically engage the conceptual framework of the field as a whole
- Provides a critical intervention into several methodological impasses in contemporary NT scholarship
- Offers an appraisal of the relationship between economics and culture in the production of NT scholarship
- Written in a style that is clear and concise, ideal for student readership
Trade ReviewLopez, associate professor of religious studies at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg FL, suggest that part of the radical potential of de-introducing the NT lies in the refusal to give up on history, and historical criticism, while continuing to think through methodological questions and issues in the discipline (New Testament Abstracts 2016)
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
(De-)Introduction 1
Seeing Old Stones Anew 1
Introducing the New Testament as Introducing Traditional
New Testament Scholarship 4
Introducing Criticisms of Traditional New Testament Scholarship 9
Introducing De-Introducing the New Testament 17
1 The Order of New Testament Things: Questioning Methods and Meanings 25
The Bone-Box of James, “the Brother of Jesus” 25
Ways of Knowing a Subject of Study 31
Ordering Principles in the Study of the New Testament 35
Ways of Knowing New Testament “Things” 62
2 Foregrounding New Testament Backgrounds: Contextualizing Interpretation 71
Jew” or “Judean”? The Present Confronts the Past 71
Introducing the New Testament: Making Meaning with the Context 76
Backgrounding the Backgrounds Approach 83
Backgrounding the Character of Early Christianity: Liberty against Tyranny 97
Contexts Matter, Ancient and Modern 110
3 Objects, Objectives, and Objectivities: Material and Visual Culture and New Testament Studies 119
Of Fragments and Forgeries 119
Archaeology and the Making of Objects 122
Excavating Discourses that Produce Ancient Objects 133
What Do We Do with Ancient Objects? 145
What Do We Want with Ancient Objects? 160
4 Brand(ish)ing Biblical Scholars(hip): New Testament Studies and Neoliberal Subjectivity 169
Who Can Be a “New Testament Scholar?” 169
Neoliberalism and the Politics of Identity 173
Branding as a Practice of Neoliberal Subjectivity 183
Branding New Testament Scholars(hip) 191
The One-Dimensional New Testament Scholar? 205
Back to the Future: Concluding Observations on History, Method, and Theory in New Testament Studies 215
Index 000
