Sight and Blindness in Luke-Acts: The Use of Physical Features in Characterization (Biblical Interpretation Series, 94) - Hardcover

Hartsock, Chad

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004165355 ISBN 13: 9789004165359

Publisher: Brill Academic Pub, 2008

Synopsis

Reading Luke-Acts through the lens of Greco-Roman physiognomics, this is a study of the use of physical descriptions in characterization in the biblical texts. Specifically, this work studies blindness as characterization and, ultimately, as an interpretive guide to Luke-Acts.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The ancient world often thought in terms of physiognomicsa "the idea that character can be discerned by studying outward, physical features. That physical descriptions carry moral freight in characterization has been largely missed in modern biblical scholarship, and this study brings that to the forefront. Specifically, this is a study of one particular physical markera "blindness. When we look at Greco-Roman literature, a kind of literary topos begins to emerge, a set of assumptions that ancient audiences would typically make when encountering blind characters. Luke-Acts makes use of such a topos in a way that becomes programmatic, serving as a kind of interpretive key to Luke-Acts that is generally unnoticed in modern scholarship.

About the Author:

J. Chad Hartsock, Ph.D. (2007) in Biblical Studies, Baylor University, is a Teaching Fellow at Baylor University and George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. This is his first publication.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 9004165355
• ISBN 13: 9789004165359
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 226