Structural Exegesis for New Testament Critics [Paperback]

Daniel Patte (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1996

The methodology of structural exegesis is explained without the use of technical vocabulary and presented in six clearly defined and repeatedly illustrated steps that can be easily followed.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel Patte teaches at Vanderbuilt University, is author of The Challenge of Discipleship (Trinty), Discipleship According to the Sermon on the Mount (Trinity), and an editor of Reading Israel in Romans: Legitimacy and Plausibility of Divergent Interpretations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Trinity Press Int'l (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563381788
• ISBN-13: 978-1563381782
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,492,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Structural integrity..., June 9, 2004

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FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Structural Exegesis for New Testament Critics (Guides to Biblical Scholarship New Testament Series) (Paperback)

Fortress Press has several texts in the series `Guides to Biblical Scholarship'. These are short monographs in which scholars discuss specific methods, issues and topics in Biblical scholarship, with an emphasis on use for exegetical and hermeneutical analysis. These guides are useful to scholars and students; sometimes they get a bit beyond what the `average reader' would find helpful, but they are written with an eye toward accessibility to those at the undergraduate level and above - no need for advanced degrees to be able to use these texts.

Daniel Patte's text on structural exegesis is presented as a six-step process. This is done not in an exclusively theoretical fashion, but explained as it is used directly upon the biblical text (passages from Luke and John are used in the text). One cannot avoid theoretical and philosophical underpinnings, but this is kept to a minimum. The introduction, a mere five pages, introduces the names Saussure, Levi-Strauss and Greimas, and the topics of meta-theories and semiotics, but does not dwell upon them. It merely gives some background for the eager reader, who is directed to the Annotated Select Bibliography at the end of the book (and referred to a number of times in the footnotes).

The first step in structural exegesis is the need for a complete discourse unit. This requires a prior textual critical step to determine best manuscripts, etc. A complete discourse unit requirement implies that pieces of texts will not be useful; Patte explains the criteria for choosing passages and identifying complete units (which I will henceforth refer to as the more accessible `story').

The second step requires identification of oppositions of actions in the story. The third step looks for identification of qualifications that contrast the opposing subjects. The fourth step involves identification of effects on those who receive or are affected by the opposing actions. The fifth step proceeds to the drawing of conclusions on the system of convictions operative in the story. The sixth and final step looks at ways the author expresses the system of convictions in given historical/social situations.

This sounds rather technical, and in many regards, it is. Steps two through four are fairly formal and fixed in methodology. Patte shows this methodology using John 3.1-21, drawing the oppositions, qualifications and effects together in a pattern (there are parts that almost look like algebraic problems, but have no fear!).

After addressing the steps in formal structural detail, Patte uses John 4.4-42 and Luke 10.21-42 as exercises in structural exegesis.

So, what are the results of structural exegesis? For the vast majority of persons doing exegesis and biblical studies of this kind, the result rather than the process is the important thing. Structural exegesis, according to Patte, ultimately shows a diversity of Christian faith from the very beginning that was enshrined in the canon of scripture, as the faith convictions of the gospels and of Paul's letters have differences that nonetheless come together as a whole.

Patte has written other texts on structural exegesis (`What is Structural Exegesis?' in 1976, and `Structural Exegesis: From Theory to Practice' in 1978, both from Fortress Press; he has also written texts of Paul's letters and the gospel of Matthew from a standpoint of structural exegesis). These are discussed in the annotated bibliography, as are many other key texts in this field.