Handbook of Classic Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period, 330 BC - AD 400

by Stanley E. Porter

Publisher:

Brill

, 1997

Overview

This detailed reference work provides a comprehensive and wide-ranging introduction to classical rhetoric as it was practiced in the Hellenistic period (330 B.C.–A.D.400).

This book is a thorough description and analysis of the standard categories of thought, terminology, and theoretical and historical developments of classical rhetoric, and includes useful bibliographies. The three sections of essays define the major categories of rhetoric, analyze rhetorical practice according to genre of writing, and treat individual writers in the rhetorical tradition. Twenty-seven international scholars from a wide range of backgrounds have contributed to this high-quality resource, which provides a state-of-the-art overview of the current research and will form the basis of future explorations.

This massive collection of essays by various authorities will serve as a good basic introduction to the nature and history of classical rhetoric, even for those working outside the Hellenistic period… every rhetorician and every New Testament scholar should plan to read it…

—Terry L. Papillon, The American Journal of Philology

Students of the rhetoric of the New Testament, the Hellenistic period, the classical period and the patristic era will all find this volume useful and insightful, as will those with general interests in these subjects.

Product Details

• Title: Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period, 330 B.C. – A.D. 400
• Author: Stanley E. Porter
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Publication Date: 2001
• Pages: 902

About Stanley Porter

Stanley E. Porter is Principal, Dean, and Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His is also visiting Professor at the University of Surrey Roehampton, where he was previously Research Professor in New Testament, Professor of Theology, and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He has published extensively in the field of New Testament studies. His works include Idioms of the Greek New Testament, A Handbook to the Exegesis of the New Testamentand Semper Reformandum.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Aristotle (Rh. 1:2:1355b25–26) modified the Platonic conception of rhetoric by defining it as ‘the ability in each [particular] case to see the available means of persuasion’.” (Page 4)

“The relation between this wide-ranging revelatory interest and ethical admonition is an important feature of apocalyptic rhetoric.” (Page 469)

“The Platonic conception underlies the account of rhetoric that Aristotle subsequently formulated, especially his emphasis on logical method and his division of the artistic means of persuasion into the use by a speaker of ethos, or presentation of his character as trustworthy, logos, or logical argument, and pathos, or awakening the emotion of the audience.” (Page 14)

“Since New Testament epistles were written to be read aloud to the assembled believers, it may be that their style was more that of public debate rather than of the precision demanded of the law court and on ceremonial occasions.” (Page 160)

“9. Irony (εἰρωνεία, illusio): Irony is the use of words which in the context convey a contrary meaning.” (Page 128)

Product Details

• Title: Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period, 330 B.C–A.D. 400
• Author: Stanley E. Porter
• Publisher: Brill
• Print Publication Date: 1997
• Logos Release Date: 2008
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Greek literature, Hellenistic › History and criticism--Handbooks, manuals, etc; Rhetoric, Ancient › Handbooks, manuals, etc; Criticism › Greece--Handbooks, manuals, etc
• ISBNs: 9789004099654, 9004099654
• Resource ID: LLS:HBKCLASSRHT
• Resource Type: text.monograph.handbook
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:27:39Z

About Stanley E. Porter

Stanley E. Porter, PhD, University of Sheffield, has taught for more than 30 years in post-secondary institutions in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He is a Greek and New Testament expert, and, since 2001, has been the president, dean, and professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College. He's best known for his works on verbal aspects in New Testament Greek, is actively involved in OpenText.org and the Linguistics Institute of Ancient and Biblical Greek, and is a regular columnist for Christian Week.

Porter is the author or editor of numerous New Testament and Greek studies, including Idioms of the Greek New Testament, Discourse Analysis and the New Testament: Approaches and Results, and Dictionary of New Testament Background. He has edited over 80 volumes and authored 28 books on various New Testament and related topics, including How We Got the New Testament: Text, Transmission, Translation, and The Gospel of John in Modern Interpretation. Plus, he's published more than 450 journal articles, chapters in books, and dictionary entries and regularly speaks at major conferences and other venues around the world.

His interests include Greek language and linguistics, hermeneutics and various methods of interpretation, and a range of New Testament studies from the Gospels to John to Acts to Paul. He is also a papyrological and text-oriented research specialist and is interested in the wider Greco-Roman world. Outside of academia, Stanley has served in young adult ministry and has assisted in developing a lay training institute for the local church.