Rhetoric and the New Testament

Proceeding from the basic insight that rhetoric is not a matter of stylistic ornamentation but of persuasive argumentation, the author 1) lays out the historical factors surrounding the loss and recovery of rhetorical understanding in dealing with the New Testament, 2) describes classical Greco-Roman rhetoric; 3) applies rhetorical categories to the interpretation of a selection of New Testament texts; and 4) analyzes the place of rhetorical criticism in the configuration of critical methods and hermeneutics.