Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method, and the Book of Jonah (Guides to Biblical Scholarship, Old Testament)

Rating:
Summary: The definitve book on rhetorical criticism
Review: Those familiar with the Guides to Biblical Scholarship series will be pleasantly surprised by Trible's work. Most books in this series offer a relatively shallow introduction to a specific method of exegesis and manage to avoid detailed application of the method entirely. In the worst cases, the authors seem to be annoyed by the task of explaining their method to the unitinitiated. The difference in Tible's work is immediately obvious. It is about twice as long as most books in the series and is meticulously written and documented. These latter triats, of course, are those which characterize all of Trible's work. She begins by describing the birth of this method in the work of James Muilenburg, then carefully describes how contemporary rhetorical criticis draws upon classical roots from Aristotle forward. The second half of the book is a rhetorical commentary on the book of Jonah, which is worth the price of the book even for those who are familiar with Trible's method. The best surprise is the quality of Trible's pedagogy. She not only applies her method to the book of Jonah, but always explains to the reader how she is doing it. Trible has maneged to define a vital, contemporary method of biblical exegesis, demonstrate its application to a text, and produce a valuable, original piece of biblical scholarship. This book may be twice as long as most other volumes in the sereies, but it accomplishes at least three times as much.

Rating:
Summary: The definitve book on rhetorical criticism
Review: Those familiar with the Guides to Biblical Scholarship series will be pleasantly surprised by Trible's work. Most books in this series offer a relatively shallow introduction to a specific method of exegesis and manage to avoid detailed application of the method entirely. In the worst cases, the authors seem to be annoyed by the task of explaining their method to the unitinitiated. The difference in Tible's work is immediately obvious. It is about twice as long as most books in the series and is meticulously written and documented. These latter triats, of course, are those which characterize all of Trible's work. She begins by describing the birth of this method in the work of James Muilenburg, then carefully describes how contemporary rhetorical criticis draws upon classical roots from Aristotle forward. The second half of the book is a rhetorical commentary on the book of Jonah, which is worth the price of the book even for those who are familiar with Trible's method. The best surprise is the quality of Trible's pedagogy. She not only applies her method to the book of Jonah, but always explains to the reader how she is doing it. Trible has maneged to define a vital, contemporary method of biblical exegesis, demonstrate its application to a text, and produce a valuable, original piece of biblical scholarship. This book may be twice as long as most other volumes in the sereies, but it accomplishes at least three times as much.