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Develop a keener ear for Paul’s rhetorical strategy

Patterson uses cognitive metaphor theory to trace the apostle Paul’s use of metaphors from the Jewish sacrificial system in his moral counsels to the Philippians and the Corinthians. In these letters, Paul moves from the known (the practice of sacrifice) to the unknown (how to live in accord with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ). Patterson illustrates that the significant sacrificial metaphors in 1 Corinthians and Philippians are not derived from Jewish sacrifices of atonement, but rather from the Passover and sacrifices of thanksgiving. Attention to these metaphors demonstrates that imagery drawn from these sacrifices shapes the overall moral counsel of the letters, reveals more varied and nuanced interpretations of sacrificial references in Paul’s letters, and sheds light on Paul’s continuity with Jewish cultic practice.

Features

• Clarification of the strategic function of metaphors as a means of establishing an imaginative framework for ethical deliberation
• Evidence of Paul’s active processes of theological reflection
• Exploration of the intertwining of Jewish cultic practice with the rhetoric of moral commitment within early Christian churches

The books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, commonly referred to as the Deuteronomistic History, have been the object of intense research over the last half-century, with different schools of research emerging in the United States and Europe. In this volume, Walter Dietrich brings together thirteen of his seminal essays, most of which appear here in English for the first time, on two topics: (1) the Deuteronomistic History as both sober historiography and a literary work of art; and (2) the figure of King David as he appears in 1 and 2 Samuel, oscillating between historicity and fictionality, success and failure, violence and love. The goal of this collection is to encourage international conversations that will advance the work of scholars and students interested in the Deuteronomistic History in general and the books of Samuel in particular.