The Sword of His Mouth

A study of the rhetorical and poetic form of synoptic sayings of jesus which argues that many of these sayings use a "depth rhetoric" (forceful and imaginative language) which seeks to challenge the hearer's fixed structures of meaning and value, moving him/her to new action by awakening new insight. Special attention is given to pattern and tension. An attempt is made to show how form and content merge in producing utterances with provocative verbal power. If all this sounds kind of dry and boring -- think again. The character of Jesus emerges from this study as one whose language must be distinguished from casual speech. He knew what he was doing and he did it very much on purpose!