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Rhetorical Analysis of Biblical Documents in the Past Decade with Special Focus upon the Seven ‘Pepperdine’ Conferences
Prof.
Vernon K. Robbins
This paper will present an analysis from various perspectives of the essays that have been presented at the Pepperdine Rhetorical Conferences since 1992, when the first conference was held in Heidelberg. The overall goal will be to describe the essays in relation to rhetorical practices prior to 1992 and to new trends that have been emerging during the last decade. One of the topics will be the range of books and modes of discourse in the Bible that interpreters at these conferences have approached with rhetorical tools and strategies of interpretation. Another topic will be the nature of the tools and strategies of interpretation themselves. Still another topic will be the degree to which these essays appear to be representative of rhetorical interpretation at this time in the field of biblical studies. The essay will end with a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of rhetorical interpretation of the Bible at the beginning of the twenty-first century as the essays at these conferences exhibit them.
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