Poetics for the Gospels?: Rethinking Narrative Criticism
Overview
Poetics, the study of the making of literary works, regards the gospels as literature, in contrast to the historical-critical approach. Petri Merenlahti makes the case that poetics offers a vital critical tool to interpreting the gospels. But he argues that poetics must also be 'historical', as perceptions of literary form and value are not fixed, but evolve and develop from one time and culture to another. Merenlahti provides a comprehensive account of the development and the state of the art of poetics and narrative criticism. Through scrupulous methodological discussion and detailed analysis of gospel narratives, he also offers a potentially highly productive future program for historical poetics in gospel studies.
Top Highlights
“narrative criticism focused on them as complete literary wholes” (Page 18)
“In contemporary use, ‘poetics’ has mostly appeared in this latter, analytical sense. When proponents of literary-theoretical currents such as formalism and structuralism utilized structural analysis in order to produce a universal, ‘scientific aesthetics’ of literary art, it was natural for them to call this endeavor poetics. As a result, the term has been closely associated with these modern paradigms.” (Page 1)
“In New Testament studies, poetic influences have mostly been present in a formalist and structuralist mode.” (Page 1)
“an exclusively text-oriented approach that ‘looks at the closed universe of the story-world.’5” (Page 18)
Product Details
- Title: Poetics for the Gospels?: Rethinking Narrative Criticism
- Author: Petri Merenlahti
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Publication Date: 2005
- Pages: 192