The Miracle Stories of the Early Christian Tradition

by Gerd Theissen

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2007

Overview

The Miracle Stories of the Early Christian Tradition is a form-critical study of the miracle stories recorded in the gospels. Building upon classic form critical methods, Gerd Theissen provides analysis based upon one synoptic literary form. Motifs, themes, and genres of the miracle stories are explored at length. Unlike one dimensional studies, Theissen takes an integrated approach examining the miracle stories “synchronically as structured forms, diachronically as reproduced narratives, and from a functional point of view as symbolic actions.” This acclaimed work will introduce you to the methods and practices of form-criticism.

Key Features

• Contributes to classic form-critical methods
• Provides a broader framework in which to examine individual miracle stories
• Takes an inter-related approach to form criticism

Contents

• Characters: Catalogue, Field and Composition
• Motifs
• Themes
• Genres
• The Variation of the Motifs
• The Narrative Reproduction of the Individual Stories
• Composition Within the Framework Genre
• The Social Function of Primitive Christian Miracle Stories
• The Function of Primitive Christian Miracle Stories in the History of Ancient Religion
• The Existential Function of Primitive Christian Miracle Stories

Top Highlights

“The cosmic world was not turned upside down, but the world as interpreted by symbolic actions was.” (Page 280)

Praise for the Print Edition

This is an impressive book. [Theissen] makes use of form criticism, structural analysis, sociological analysis, and history of religious studies to probe the miracle stories in the synoptic Gospels, and he offers fresh perspectives on them. . . . It charts a new course, and all further work on the miracles stories will have to contend with it.

—Arland Hultgren, emeritus professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary

Theissen is a pioneer who casts his net wide. . . . Those who preach on the miracle stories can gain a great deal from Theissen’s analysis, yet another excellent contribution to the social-scientific study of religion from a talented scholar.

—Anglican Theological Review

The exegete who has been toiling closely on the texts of the synoptic miracle stories will find that this book provides a helpful perspective on the larger hermeneutical issues from the vantage point of structuralism.

—David Tiede, emeritus president, Luther Seminary

[This] study is sophisticated, informative, and methodologically progressive. It will be indispensable for further research on the synoptic miracle stories.

—Journal of the American Academy of Religion

Product Details

• Title: The Miracle Stories of the Early Christian Tradition
• Author: Gerd Theissen
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Print Publication Date: 2007
• Logos Release Date: 2017
• Pages: 334
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Miracles; Bible. N.T. Gospels › Criticism, form
• ISBNs: 9780800662059, 0800607007, 0800662059, 9780800607005
• Resource ID: LLS:MIRCLSTORTHEISSEN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:31:34Z

About Gerd Theissen

Gerd Theissen is a professor of New Testament at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and the author of The Religion of the Earliest Churches and The Shadow of the Galilean. He is a coauthor of The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide and coeditor of The Social Setting of Jesus and the Gospels.