Rhetoric and Early Christianity

Call For Papers: The Rhetoric and New Testament Section has several sessions planned for 2015. / ( ONE ) A session co-sponsored with the Paul and Politics Group and entailing a review and assessment of Antoinette Clark Wire’s on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the publication of this signal work in rhetorical studies. Papers for this session are invited. / ( TWO ) An open-call session co-sponsored with the Speech and Talk in the Ancient Mediterranean World Section on the theme of “Speech, Sight, and Space.” We invite papers exploring the rhetorical configurations of speech, sight, and space in relation to early Christian/ancient texts. For example, how does visual imagery function rhetorically in ancient texts (e.g., invoking built or natural environments)? How do ancient authors situate sight or speech in particular spaces (e.g., Cicero's speeches and the theater; private vs. public conversations; teaching “in the temple”/synagogue; Paul at the Areopagus)? What were the boundaries of sight and speech (e.g., Philo's claim that God's speech was visible at Sinai, or the Book of Revelation's paradox of "hearing" one thing but "seeing" another)? What is the significance of speech-sight-space when we consider the oral performance of ancient narratives or epistles (e.g., how might our understanding of Paul's letters be shaped by the visual realities of the ancient spaces in which they were read/performed)? / ( THREE ) An open-call session for which we invite proposals dealing with various aspects of the intersection of the study of rhetoric and the New Testament. Proposals that focus on the theme of “Why Does the Study of Rhetoric and the New Testament Matter?” are particularly welcome.

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