The Composition of the Sayings Source
Genre, Synchrony, and Wisdom Redaction in Q.
Published on 28. April 1998
Book
Leather / fine binding
XIII, 443 pages
978-90-04-11085-4 (ISBN)
Description
This volume analyzes the "Q materials" in the light of compositional conventions of ancient instructional genres. The author begins by assessing literary-critical approaches to Q which began with Harnack and have culminated in the work of Kloppenborg, Sato, and others. Next he articulates a theory of genre analysis drawn from text-linguistics, literary criticism, and rhetorical criticism. An array of ancient paraenetic texts is used to generate genre-critical models, in turn applied comprehensively to the double tradition materials. The results are used to critically assess recent redaction-history theories of Q's formation and to locate Q more securely among ancient paraenetic genres.
The book will be of interest to synoptic gospels scholarship, historians of Christian origins, literary critics, and those investigating the production, social function, and performance of texts in early Christianity.
The book will be of interest to synoptic gospels scholarship, historians of Christian origins, literary critics, and those investigating the production, social function, and performance of texts in early Christianity.
Reviews / Votes
'There is no doubt that this is a major contribution to Q studies...this is an important book.C.M. Tuckett.
'The present work [...] is a careful, interesting, strongly argued, and well-written, if somewhat verbose, analysis of the genre and composition of Q. In fact, it is a very important contribution to Q research and deserves careful attention...This is a work that deserves [...] careful attention by Q scholars and others...the author is to be thanked and congratulated.'
Arland Jacobson, Journal of Biblical Literature, 2000.
'...a careful, interesting, strongly argued, and well-written [...] analysis of the genre and composition of Q. In fact, it is a very important contribution to Q. research and deserves careful attention.'
Arland Jacobson, Review of Biblical Literature, 2000.
'This is an important book which deserves serious consideration, not only by specialists in Q. but by any scholar interested in the formation of early Christian literature.'
Barry S. Crawford, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2000.
'Kirk thus does provide a compelling argument that Q is comprehensible as an integral document.'
William Arnal, Toronto Journal of Theology, 2000.
Winner of the 2000 F.W. Beare Book Award, awarded by the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies.
More details
Person
Alan Kirk, Ph.D. (1996) in Religion, University of Toronto is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Allison University. In addition to recent articles on Q in JBL and NovT, he has published on the Syriac Menander and the Gospel of Peter.