The Rhetoric of Digressions
Revelation 7:1-17 and 10:1-11:13 and Ancient Communication
by Peter S. Perry
Revelation 7:1-17 occurs between the opening of the sixth and seventh seal and Rev 10:1-11:13 between the sixth and seventh trumpet blasts. Interpreters often explain these passages as interludes, parentheses, or expansions, but not in terms of ancient communication. Peter S. Perry analyzes these interruptions in the seals and trumpets in light of digressions in ancient rhetorical theory and practice. Digressions are described by Hermagoras, Cicero, and Quintilian and widely used, including in Josephus’ works, Jubilees, Sibylline Oracles I/II, Zechariah, and Exodus. As with other ancient digressions, Rev 7:1-17 and 10:1-11:13 are unessential to the logical flow but essential to the book’s impact. These passages excite the emotions, shape character, and give insight into John’s rhetorical strategy and goals.
- By (author) Peter S Perry
Other Titles in this Series
Reconsidering the Relationship between Biblical and Systematic Theology in the New Testament
Essays by Theologians and New Testament Scholars
Volume 369
The Destroyer and the Lamb
The Relationship between Angelomorphic and Lamb Christology in the Book of Revelation
Volume 203
Die Rezeption der Psalmen in den Qumranschriften, bei Philo von Alexandrien und im Corpus Paulinum
Volume 437
Functional Teleology and the Coherence of Ephesians
A Comparative and Reception-Historical Approach
Volume 470
Remembrance of Things Past?
Albert Schweitzer, the Anxiety of Influence, and the Untidy Jesus of Markan Memory
Volume 351
Schriftdiskurse im Johannesevangelium
Eine narrativ-intertextuelle Analyse am Paradigma von Joh 4 und Joh 7
Volume 380
Der Jakobusbrief in der Alten Kirche
Eine Spurensuche vom Neuen Testament bis zu Origenes
Volume 588
Sexualitat und Geschlecht bei Paulus
Die Spannung zwischen 'Inklusivitat' und 'Exklusivitat' des paulinischen Ethos am Beispiel der Sexual- und Geschlechterrollenethik
Volume 512
Similar Books
Athanasius of Alexandria, Epistula ad episcopos Aegypti et Libyae
Old Slavonic Version and English Translation
Volume 261
Cyril of Alexandria’s Christological Exegesis
Explorations of Partitive Exegesis in the Dialogues on the Trinity
Volume 70
Epiphanies of the Divine in the Septuagint and the New Testament
Fifth International Symposium of the Corpus Judaeo-Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti (CJHNT), 14-17 May 2015, Nottingham
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Paradise Lost in Transmission
The Return to Eden in the Apocalypse of Peter within Its Ethiopic and Early Christian Contexts
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
Tabernacle, Table, Ark, and Text
Richard of Saint Victor on the Interpretation of Scripture
Volume 67
The Anglo-Norman Bible’s Books of Kings, a Critical Edition
(BL Royal 1 C III, fols 234r-274v)
Volume 37
The Body
Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox
The Compositional History of the Book of Kings
An Analysis of the Evaluative Frameworks in 1 Kings 14–2 Kings 25
The Discourse of Rites
Shaping and Reshaping the (Counter-)Priestly Rituals Conducted Outside the Tabernacle
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa