Structuring Early Christian Memory - (Library of New Testament Studies) by Rafael Rodriguez (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Social memory research has complicated the relationship between past and present because it is a relationship which finds expression in memorial acts such as storytelling and text-production.

This relationship has emerged as a dialectic in which "past" and "present" are mutually constitutive and implicating. The resultant complication directly affects the procedures and products of "historical Jesus" research, which depends particularly on the assumption that we can cleanly separate "authentic" from "inauthentic" traditions.

In Structuring Early Christian Memory Rafael Rodriguez analyzes the problems that arise from this assumption and proposes a "historical Jesus" program that is more sensitive to the entanglement of past and present.

Review Quotes

"In this revision of his doctoral thesis, Rafael Rodriguez applies social memory theory and oral performance theory to gospel traditions representing Jesus as an exorcist and healer. This is a profoundly ambitious and highly technical work, calling for nothing short of a paradigm shift in gospels research. - Daniel Frayer-Griggs, University of Durham, UK" --Daniel Frayer-Griggs

"This study is a welcome addition to historical Jesus studies and provides a fresh perspective that deserves careful attention." --Journal for the Study of The New Testament, Volume 33 Number 5

"'In this revised Sheffield doctoral thesis, Rodriguez seeks to overcome certain polarizations which he claims have marked modern study of the Jesus tradition: textuality vs. orality, inauthenticity vs. authenticity, past vs. present. To do so, he develops a frameork utilizing the theory of social memory and recent work in oral traditionas away of examining the construction of Jesus' reputation and the way the tradition about him was repeatedly performed both before and after the gospels were written.' David Lincicum, Mansfield College, Oxford" --David Lincicum, Theological Book Review

About the Author