Search results for ""Author D. Francois Tolmie""

The normal approach to the rhetorical analysis of the Letter to the Galatians is to choose a specific rhetorical model (usually an ancient one) whereby the letter is then analysed. D. Francois Tolmie's study represents an alternative in that the author does not choose a particular rhetorical model to "apply" to the text. Instead, he follows a text-centred approach in that Paul's rhetorical strategy is carefully reconstructed from the letter itself. The letter is divided into 18 rhetorical phases; the dominant rhetorical strategy in each phase is then identified and described, in conjunction with all the supportive strategies and rhetorical techniques used in the particular phase. Finally, the results of the analysis are integrated in two ways: Firstly, Paul's overall argument in the letter is outlined in terms of six broad objectives that he wishes to achieve by means of the letter. Secondly, the wide variety of arguments that Paul uses in the letter is discussed.

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D. Francois Tolmie offers a comprehensive overview of the various ways in which commentators interpreted the rhetoric of the Letter to Philemon from the fourth to the eighteenth century. For this purpose, fifty commentaries that appeared during this period are scrutinised one by one in order to determine the different ways in which commentators understood the rhetorical situation reflected by the letter and how they explained Paul's persuasive strategy. The author concludes with a thorough overview of broad tendencies that may be discerned in this regard. He reflects on the numerous ways in which commentators interpreted and expanded the meagre details offered by the letter to imagine a rhetorical situation that made sense to them. He also explains how consensus developed on certain matters, but, at the same time, how a diversity of views developed on other issues.

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This volume represents the most thorough study of characters and characterization in the Fourth Gospel heretofore published. Building on several different narrative approaches, the contributors assembled here offer sixty-two essays related to characters and group characters in John. Among these are detailed studies presenting fresh perspectives on characters who play a major role in the Gospel (e.g., Peter, Mary Magdalene, etc.), as well as original studies of characters who have never been the focus of narrative analysis before, characters often glossed over in commentaries as insignificant (e.g., the boy with the loaves and fish, the parents of the man born blind, etc.). Clearly, characters in John stand in the shadow of the protagonist—Jesus. In this volume, however, they step fully into the light. Thus illuminated, it becomes clear how complex and nuanced many of them are.

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