Biblical Form Criticism in its Context

Martin J. Buss

• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Year: 1999
• Print ISBN: 9781850758761
• eBook ISBN: 9780567148230
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

This magnum opus is not another catalogue of the forms of biblical literature, but a deeply reflected account of the significance of form itself. Buss writes out of his experience in Western philosophy and the intricate involvement of biblical criticism in philosophical history. Equally, biblical criticism and the development of notions of form are related to social contexts, whether from the side of the aristocracy (tending towards generality) or of the bourgeois (tending towards particularity) or of an inclusive society (favouring a relational view). Form criticism, in Buss's conception, is no mere formal exercise, but the observation of interrelationships among thoughts and moods, linguistic regularities and the experiences and activities of life. This work, with its many examples from both Testaments, will be fundamental for Old and New Testament scholars alike.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: RECOGNIZING FORMS
• Chapter 2 BIBLICAL PATTERNS
• Chapter 3 GRAECO-ROMAN THEORIES OF FORM
• Chapter 4 EARLY AND MEDIAEVAL ANALYSES
• Chapter 5 POSTMEDIAEVAL EXAMINATIONS OF FORM
• Chapter 6 FORMAL ANALYSIS DURING THE REIGN OF HISTORIOGRAPHY (c. 1775–1875)
• Chapter 7 'FORM' AFTER 1875 OUTSIDE BIBLICAL STUDIES
• Chapter 8 JEWISH ANALYSES OF FORM, c. 1875–1965
• Chapter 9 ROMAN CATHOLIC VIEWS OF LITERARY FORM, c. 1875–1965
• Chapter 10 THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE: PROTESTANT ANALYSES LARGELY BY OR FOR NONSPECIALISTS, c. 1875–1965
• Chapter 11 GUNKEL IN HIS CONTEXT
• Chapter 12 FORM IN PROTESTANT NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLARSHIP, c. 1875–1965
• Chapter 13 FORM IN SPECIALIST PROTESTANT STUDIES OF THE HEBREW BIBLE, c. 1915–1965
• Chapter 14 CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS
• Bibliography
• Index of References
• Index of Authors