Characterizing Jesus (Library Of New Testament Studies Series)

This study explores how the Fourth Gospel's use of Scripture**contributes to its characterization of Jesus. Utilizing literary-rhetoricalcriticism, Myers approaches the Gospel in its final form, paying particularattention to how Greco-Roman rhetoric can assist in understanding the ways in**which Scripture is employed to support the presentation of Jesus. It offers**further evidence in favour of the Gospel's use of rhetoric (particularly thepractices of synkrisis, ekpharsis, and prosopopoiia), and gives scholars a new way to use rhetoric tobetter understand the use of Scripture in the Fourth Gospel and the New Testament**as a whole.**The book proceeds in three parts. First, it examines ancientMediterranean practices of narration and characterization in relationship tothe Gospel, concluding with an analysis of the Johannine prologue. In thesecond and third parts, it investigates explicit appeals to Scripture that aremade both in and outside of Jesus' discourses.Through these analyses, Myers contends that the pervasivepresence of Scripture in quotations, allusions, and references acts as**corroborating evidence supporting the evangelist's presentation of Jesus.Read less