Aune on enthymemes in New Testament scholarship

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In a helpful 2003 essay, David Aune discusses “the use and abuse of the enthymeme in New Testament scholarship” (New Testament Studies 49, no. 3, 299–320). According to the article’s abstract,

Though the enthymeme is usually defined as a truncated syllogism, that definition does not go back to Aristotle. By the first century CE there were four ways of understanding the enthymeme in both Greek and Latin rhetorical theory, of which the truncated syllogism was just one. Aristotle’s theory of the enthymeme had little effect on the subsequent history of the enthymeme, just as his Rhetorica had only a restricted circulation and impact from the first century BCE on. In light of these considerations, the work of seven scholars who have used the enthymeme to understand argumentation in the NT is reviewed and critiqued.

Materially, the essays biggest contribution is Aune’s analysis of the formalist perspective on “enthymemes” that he found in the literature he surveyed. Another area of repeated concern is how easily it is for New Testament scholars to fall into incompletely outlining arguments.

For subscribers or users at subscribing institutions, see the essay in NTS, ProQuest, or other similar providers.

Baird, History of New Testament Research

Reading time: < 1 minutes William Baird, History of New Testament Research (3 vols.)

With last year’s release of the third volume, From C. H. Dodd to Hans Dieter Betz, William Baird brought his helpful series on the recent history of New Testament Studies to a close. Cliff Kvidahl has an informative review that, despite some criticisms, rightly praises Baird’s work as “informative while remaining entertaining. [Baird] brings the reader through the life and work of each scholar without getting bogged down in too much detail.” Those interested can also find the whole 3-volume set available among Logos Bible Software’s prepublication listings.

New Testament Studies 59, no. 4

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New Testament Studies

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

  • Helen K. Bond, “Dating the Death of Jesus: Memory and the Religious Imagination”
  • John K. Goodrich, “Sold under Sin: Echoes of Exile in Romans 7.14–25”
  • Timothy A. Brookins, “The (In)frequency of the Name ‘Erastus’ in Antiquity: A Literary, Papyrological, and Epigraphical Catalog”
  • Daniel Frayer-Griggs, “Neither Proof Text nor Proverb: The Instrumental Sense of διά and the Soteriological Function of Fire in 1 Corinthians 3.15”
  • Jonathan A. Linebaugh, “The Christo-Centrism of Faith in Christ: Martin Luther’s Reading of Galatians 2.16, 19–20”
  • Thomas J. Kraus, “Hapax legomena: Definition eines terminus technicus und Signifikanz für eine pragmatisch orientierte Sprachanalyse”
  • Karen L. King, “The Place of the Gospel of Philip in the Context of Early Christian Claims about Jesus’ Marital Status”
  • Emily Gathergood, “Papyrus 32 (Titus) as a Multi-text Codex: A New Reconstruction”

Upcoming Logos Resources

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Logos Bible Software

Recently, a number of noteworthy works have come into Logos Bible Software’s prepublication and community pricing programs. On the prepublication program are collections about biblical backgrounds (9 vols.; T. & T. Clark), the Prophets (16 vols.; T. & T. Clark), the Writings (5 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Old Testament literature and linguistics (7 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Hebrew Bible (7 vols.; T. & T. Clark), topics in Old Testament Studies (11 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Old Testament theology (9 vols.; Oxford University), biblical history and historiography (3 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Jewish Studies (6 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Jesus (10 vols.; T. & T. Clark); the Gospels and Acts (18 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Johannine literature (10 vols.; T. & T. Clark), the Pauline Epistles (10 vols.; T. & T. Clark), topics in New Testament Studies (11 vols.; T. & T. Clark), early Christianity (13 vols.; T. & T. Clark), apocrypha and pseudepigrapha (7 vols.; T. & T. Clark), Apostolic Fathers (29 vols.; various publishers), church history (18 vols.; Oxford); biblical interpretation (3 vols.; Pontifical Biblical Commission and 5 vols.; T. & T. Clark), biblical languages (35 vols.; Zondervan), bibliology (7 vols.; T. & T. Clark), the Bible in art (3 vols.; Standard), theological interpretation (4 vols.; T. & T. Clark), and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (3 vols.; T. & T. Clark), as well as the select Loeb Classical Library works by Tertullian and Minucius Felix (2 vols.) and Virgil (4 vols.).

On community pricing are a number of texts from the Loeb Library, including: Heroditus’s Persian Wars (8 vols.); Plutarch’s Lives (22 vols.); Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ Roman Antiquities (14 vols.); the Roman histories of Appian (8 vols.) and Cassius Dio (18 vols.); works from Xenophon (14 vols.), Lucian (10 vols.), and Hellenistic poetry (6 vol.); and collections of Roman-era Sophists (20 vols.), rhetoricians (12 vols.), and geographers (26 vols.); as well as the Encyclopedia Britannica.

New Testament Studies 59, no. 3

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New Testament Studies
New Testament Studies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes:

  • Joel Marcus, “Passover and Last Supper Revisited”
  • Klaus B. Haacker, “Der Geist und das Reich im Lukanischen Werk: Konkurrenz oder Konvergenz zwischen Pneumatologie und Eschatologie?”
  • Anthony Le Donne, “The Improper Temple Offering of Ananias and Sapphira”
  • Richard Last, “The Election of Officers in the Corinthian Christ-Group”
  • Joel R. White, “‘Peace and Security’ (1 Thessalonians 5.3): Is It Really a Roman Slogan?”
  • Thomas R. Blanton, “The Benefactor’s Account-book: The Rhetoric of Gift Reciprocation according to Seneca and Paul”
  • David J. Downs, “Justification, Good Works, and Creation in Clement of Rome’s Appropriation of Romans 5–6”
  • James A. Kelhoffer, “Reciprocity as Salvation: Christ as Salvific Patron and the Corresponding ‘Payback’ Expected of Christ’s Earthly Clients according to the Second Letter of Clement”
  • Benjamin R. Wilson, “Taking up and Raising, Fixing and Loosing: A Chiastic Wordplay in Acts 2.23b–24”