Ancient Letters and the New Testament: A Guide to Context and Exegesis

by Hans-Josef Klauck

Publisher:

Baylor University Press

, 2006

Overview

Hans-Josef Klauck’s Ancient Letters and the New Testament: A Guide to Context and Exegesis places the New Testament letters among the most important letter corpora of antiquity. Chapters cover the basic letter formula, papyrus and postal delivery, nonliterary and diplomatic correspondence, Greek and Latin literary letters, epistolary theory, letters in early Judaism, and all the letters of the New Testament. Part I of each chapter surveys each corpus, followed by detailed exegetical examples in Part II.

In the Logos edition, Ancient Letters and the New Testament is easily searchable. Scripture passages are tagged to appear on mouse-over, and all cross-references link to the other resources in your digital library, making this collection even more powerful and even easier to access than ever before. With Logos’ advanced features, you can perform comprehensive searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “covenant” or “hope.”

Key Features

• Comprehensive bibliographies
• 54 exercises with answers to aid student and scholar alike
• Indexes of ancient sources, modern authors, and subjects

Contents

• Foundations—Two Letters of Apion and Two Letters of the “Elder”
• Practical Realities—Paper and Postal System
• Nonliterary and Diplomatic Correspondence
• Poetry and Philosophy—Literary Letters
• Epistolary Theory and Rhetoric
• Letters in Early Judaism
• New Testament Letters I: Overview
• New Testament Letters II: Selected Texts
• Epilogue

Praise for the Print Edition

This is an outstanding book, since it combines basic syllabus material with advanced philological and exegetical scholarship. Its author displays a profound knowledge both of Early Christianity and of the Hellenistic-Roman world. A special asset consists of the numerous little-known examples of ancient letters which are presented in a most convenient and easily accessible way in this rich book.

—Samuel Vollenweider, University of Zurich, Switzerland

This splendid book is vintage Klauck. He offers a close reading of a wide range of ancient letters as well as brief discussion of ancient epistolary theory and of rhetoric. He strikes just the right balance between basic instruction and original insight.

—Abraham J. Malherbe, Buckingham professor emeritus of New Testament criticism and interpretation, Yale Divinity School

Product Details

• Title: Ancient Letters and the New Testament: A Guide to Context and Exegesis
• Author: Hans-Josef Klauck
• Publisher: Baylor University Press
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 539

About Hans-Josef Klauck

Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor of New Testament and Early, University of Chicago Divinity School.