Memory, Tradition, And Text

Memory, Tradition, And Text
Author: Alan K. Kirk
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004137602

Social and cultural memory theory examines the ways communities and individuals reconstruct and commemorate their pasts in light of shared experiences and current social realities. Drawing on the methods of this emerging field, this volume both introduces memory theory to biblical scholars and restores the category "memory" to a preeminent position in research on Christian origins. In the process, the volume challenges current approaches to research problems in Christian origins, such as the history of the Gospel traditions, the birth of early Christian literature, ritual and ethics, and the historical Jesus. The essays, taken in aggregate, outline a comprehensive research agenda for examining the beginnings of Christianity and its literature and also propose a fundamentally revised model for the phenomenology of early Christian oral tradition, assess the impact of memory theory upon historical Jesus research, establish connections between memory dynamics and the appearance of written Gospels, and assess the relationship of early Christian commemorative activities with the cultural memory of ancient Judaism. Contributors include April D. DeConick, Arthur J. Dewey, Philip F. Esler, Holly Hearon, Richard Horsley, Georgia Masters Keightley, Werner Kelber, Alan Kirk, Barry Schwartz, Tom Thatcher, and Antoinette Clark Wire. "Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org)."

Memory and Manuscript

Memory and Manuscript
Author: Birger Gerhardsson
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 476
Release: 1998
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780802843661

Here in one volume are two of Birger Gerhardsson's much-debated works on the transmission of tradition in Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. In Memory and Manuscript (1961), Gerhardsson explores the way in which Jewish rabbis during the first Christian centuries preserved and passed on their sacred tradition, and he shows how early Christianity is better understood in light of how that tradition developed in Rabbinic Judaism. In Tradition and Transmission in Early Christianity (1964), Gerhardsson further clarifies the discussion and answers criticism of his earlier book. This Biblical Resource Series combined edition corrects and expands Gerhardsson's original works and includes a new preface by the author and a lengthy new foreword by Jacob Neusner that summarizes the works' importance and subsequent influence.

Mystic Chords of Memory

Mystic Chords of Memory
Author: Michael Kammen
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 879
Release: 2011-08-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307761401

Mystic Chords of Memory "Illustrated with hundreds of well-chosen anecdotes and minute observations . . . Kammen is a demon researcher who seems to have mined his nuggets from the entire corpus of American cultural history . . . insightful and sardonic." —Washington Post Book World In this ground-breaking, panoramic work of American cultural history, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Machine That Would Go of Itself examines a central paradox of our national identity How did "the land of the future" acquire a past? And to what extent has our collective memory of that past—as embodied in our traditions—have been distorted, or even manufactured? Ranging from John Adams to Ronald Reagan, from the origins of Independence Day celebrations to the controversies surrounding the Vietnam War Memorial, from the Daughters of the American Revolution to immigrant associations, and filled with incisive analyses of such phenonema as Americana and its collectors, "historic" villages and Disneyland, Mystic Chords of Memory is a brilliant, immensely readable, and enormously important book. "Fascinating . . . a subtle and teeming narrative . . . masterly." —Time "This is a big, ambitious book, and Kammen pulls it off admirably. . . . [He] brings a prodigious mind and much scholarly rigor to his task . . . an importnat book—and a revealing look at how Americans look at themselves." —Milwaukee Journal

The Edge of Memory

The Edge of Memory
Author: Patrick Nunn
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2018-08-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1472943279

How much of the folk tales of our ancestors is rooted in fact, and what can they tell us about the future? In today's society it is the written word that holds the authority. We are more likely to trust the words found in a history textbook over the version of history retold by a friend – after all, human memory is unreliable, and how can you be sure your friend hasn't embellished the facts? But before humans were writing down their knowledge, they were passing it on in the form of stories. The Edge of Memory celebrates the predecessor of written information – the spoken word, tales from our ancestors that have been passed down, transmitting knowledge from one generation to the next. Among the most extensive and best-analysed of these stories are from native Australian cultures. These stories conveyed both practical information and recorded history, describing a lost landscape, often featuring tales of flooding and submergence. Folk traditions such as these are increasingly supported by hard science. Geologists are starting to corroborate the tales through study of climatic data, sediments and land forms; the evidence was there in the stories, but until recently, nobody was listening. In this book, Patrick Nunn unravels the importance of these tales, exploring the science behind folk history from around the world – including northwest Europe and India – and what it can tell us about environmental phenomena, from coastal drowning to volcanic eruptions. These stories of real events were handed down the generations over thousands of years, and they have broad implications for our understanding of how human societies have developed through the millennia, and ultimately how we respond collectively to changes in climate, our surroundings and the environment we live in.

The Media Matrix of Early Jewish and Christian Narrative

The Media Matrix of Early Jewish and Christian Narrative
Author: Nicholas Elder
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2019-11-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567688119

Generically, theologically, and concerning content, Mark and Joseph and Aseneth are quite different. The former is a product of the nascent Jesus movement and influenced by the Greco-Roman Bioi (“Lives”). It details the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of a wandering Galilean. The latter is a Hellenistic Jewish narrative influenced by Greek romances and Jewish novellas. It expands the laconic account of Joseph's marriage to Aseneth in Genesis 41 into a full-fledged love and adventure story. Despite these differences, Elder finds remarkable similarities that the texts share. Elder uses both texts to examine media and modes of composition in antiquity, arguing that they were both composed via dictation from their antecedent oral traditions. Elder's volume offers a fresh approach to the composition of both Joseph and Aseneth and Mark as well as to many of their respective interpretive debates.

Behind the Gospels

Behind the Gospels
Author: Eric Eve
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2014
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1451469403

New Testament scholars often talk about oral tradition as a means by which material about Jesus reached the Gospels writers. Despite the recent interest in oral tradition, scholarly advances have not penetrated the mainstream of academic Gospels scholarship, let alone the wider public. Behind the Gospels fills this gap, offering a general theoretical discussion of oral tradition and the formation of ancient texts and providing a critical survey of the field.

Memories of Jesus

Memories of Jesus
Author: Robert B. Stewart
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0805448403

A gathering of scholarly essays in response and tribute to James D. G. Dunn's influential book, Jesus Remembered, followed by a response from Dunn himself.

Jesus against the Scribal Elite

Jesus against the Scribal Elite
Author: Chris Keith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2020-09-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567693902

How did the controversy between Jesus and the scribal elite begin? We know that it ended on a cross, but what put Jesus on the radar of established religious and political leaders in the first place? Chris Keith argues that an answer to these questions must go beyond typical explanations such as Jesus's alternative views on Torah or his miracle working and consider his status as a teacher. Keith examines Jesus' own likely educational background, and situates Jesus within his first-century context, showing readers that some of the tensions between Jesus and the scribal authorities may have originated in Jesus' own lack of formal education. Keith builds on his earlier work on Jesus' literacy and uses insights from memory theory and ancient media studies to consider how Jesus' actions and teachings may have specifically been seen to challenge an elitist scribal culture.

The Gospel of the Lord

The Gospel of the Lord
Author: Michael F. Bird
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2014-08-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1467440310

Balanced, comprehensive survey of the critical questions involved in studying the four Gospels In this book, through a distinctive evangelical and critical approach, Michael Bird explores the historical development of the four canonical Gospels. He shows how the memories and faith of the earliest believers formed the Gospel accounts of Jesus that got written and, in turn, how these accounts further shaped the early church. Bird's study clarifies the often confusing debates over the origins of the canonical Gospels. Bird navigates recent concerns and research as he builds an informed case for how the early Christ followers wrote and spread the story of Jesus -- the story by which they believed they were called to live. The Gospel of the Lord is ideal for students or anyone who wants to know the story behind the four Gospels. Watch an interview with Michael Bird from our Eerdmans Author Interview Series: