Books by Robert von Thaden, Jr.
Papers by Robert von Thaden, Jr.
Expositions, 2015
In the posteverything world it turns out humans can't kick the story habit. Homer gets the last l... more In the posteverything world it turns out humans can't kick the story habit. Homer gets the last laugh."-Glen Duncan 2
Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2010
Biblical Interpretation, 2010
Cognitive Linguistic Explorations in Biblical Studies
Pages 99-119 in Cognitive Linguistic Explorations in Biblical Studies. Edited by Bonnie G. Howe a... more Pages 99-119 in Cognitive Linguistic Explorations in Biblical Studies. Edited by Bonnie G. Howe and Joel B. Green. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.
Conversations with the Biblical World: Proceedings of the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society & ... more Conversations with the Biblical World: Proceedings of the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society & Midwest Region Society of Biblical Literature 32 (2012): 109-126. [Available through ATLA Serials]
Early Christ believers wrestled with the proper function of sexual behavior within the life of the community. This paper examines Paul's use of the metaphor THE BODY IS A TEMPLE in 1 Cor 6-7 and demonstrates how this Pauline rhetorical picture is reconfigured to support the radical sexual ideology found in the Acts of Thomas. So powerful is the rhetorical force of Paul's image of embodied temples, I argue, that the Acts of Thomas can deploy it (along with other echoes of Paul's teaching) to argue for a sexual logic at odds with Paul's own.
Conversations with the Biblical World: Proceedings of the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society & ... more Conversations with the Biblical World: Proceedings of the Eastern Great Lakes Biblical Society & Midwest Region Society of Biblical Literature 31 (2011): 184-203. [Available through ATLA Serials]
I engage an aspect of the cognitive science of religion referred to as conceptual integration theory (blending theory). The insights of conceptual integration theory have a natural home within the interpretive framework known as socio-rhetorical interpretation (SRI). In this paper I will describe what I see as the promise of blending theory and further demonstrate how this cognitive mode of examining texts is driving the development of SRI as it produces richly textured interpretations of biblical texts for the 21st century. I will use a brief example from 1 Corinthians to flesh out the promise of conceptual blending for socio-rhetorical interpretation.
Proceedings: Eastern Great Lakes and Midwestern Biblical Societies 28 (2008): 67-75. [Available t... more Proceedings: Eastern Great Lakes and Midwestern Biblical Societies 28 (2008): 67-75. [Available through ATLA Serials]
In this paper I examine children as conceptual signifiers in religious rhetoric. While children are generally viewed positively in traditional Jewish wisdom, already in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes anxiety surrounding children exists. From earlier wisdom concerns about children I move to explore how children represent less than ideal ways of being – even of evil ways of being – in the world in the Acts of Thomas 11-12 and a vignette from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers: Alphabetical Collection (Olympius 2). A conceptual bridge between these earlier and later traditions, I argue, is Paul’s wisdom teachings found in 1 Corinthians.
In 1 Corinthians Paul must deal with a community whose behavior, in his eyes, does not befit its ... more In 1 Corinthians Paul must deal with a community whose behavior, in his eyes, does not befit its status as a member of the body of Christ. Based on the evidence found in the letter, Paul apparently believes that a proper understanding of God's paradoxical wisdom revealed through the cross will remedy the Corinthians' problematic judgment and that this will, in turn, lead to proper behavior within the community. After a meditation on this wisdom in the first four chapters of the letter, Paul engages specific areas of concern and offers the Corinthians wisdom instruction in order to help them develop the eschatological discernment he expects from this baptized community.
Much ink has been spilled in wrestling with Paul's language found in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7. Using the tools of conceptual integration theory within a socio-rhetorical framework, this dissertation argues that Paul's teaching in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7 is best viewed as an example of early Christian didactic wisdom that wrestles with the proper use of the Christian body vis-à-vis sexual activity. In Paul's two pronged attack on the problem of porneia he first shows the Corinthians, using rhetographic argumentation, why it is the worst of all possible bodily sins and he then explains, using rhetological argumentation, how they can best avoid it. Paul's didactic wisdom teaching in this pericope, however, is always already energized by an apocalyptic worldview. Moreover, Paul's wisdom in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7 also employs priestly concerns about purity, holiness, and sacred space. Jewish didactic wisdom is concerned to teach people how to live a life of generative righteousness and is willing to use whatever resources necessary to achieve its goals. Paul, it seems, is most like a Hellenistic Jewish teacher of wisdom when he opens up the boundaries of his didactic discourse by blending his wisdom teaching with apocalyptic and priestly integration resources. How Paul blends these resources in light of his experience of the risen Christ represents the beginnings of a uniquely Christian wisdom culture.
Cistercian Studies Quarterly 38 (2003): 191-209.
Book Reviews by Robert von Thaden, Jr.
Religious Studies Review 37 (2011): 280.
Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2011.09.18.
Biblical Interpretation 18 (2010): 170-71.
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Books by Robert von Thaden, Jr.
Papers by Robert von Thaden, Jr.
Early Christ believers wrestled with the proper function of sexual behavior within the life of the community. This paper examines Paul's use of the metaphor THE BODY IS A TEMPLE in 1 Cor 6-7 and demonstrates how this Pauline rhetorical picture is reconfigured to support the radical sexual ideology found in the Acts of Thomas. So powerful is the rhetorical force of Paul's image of embodied temples, I argue, that the Acts of Thomas can deploy it (along with other echoes of Paul's teaching) to argue for a sexual logic at odds with Paul's own.
I engage an aspect of the cognitive science of religion referred to as conceptual integration theory (blending theory). The insights of conceptual integration theory have a natural home within the interpretive framework known as socio-rhetorical interpretation (SRI). In this paper I will describe what I see as the promise of blending theory and further demonstrate how this cognitive mode of examining texts is driving the development of SRI as it produces richly textured interpretations of biblical texts for the 21st century. I will use a brief example from 1 Corinthians to flesh out the promise of conceptual blending for socio-rhetorical interpretation.
In this paper I examine children as conceptual signifiers in religious rhetoric. While children are generally viewed positively in traditional Jewish wisdom, already in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes anxiety surrounding children exists. From earlier wisdom concerns about children I move to explore how children represent less than ideal ways of being – even of evil ways of being – in the world in the Acts of Thomas 11-12 and a vignette from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers: Alphabetical Collection (Olympius 2). A conceptual bridge between these earlier and later traditions, I argue, is Paul’s wisdom teachings found in 1 Corinthians.
Much ink has been spilled in wrestling with Paul's language found in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7. Using the tools of conceptual integration theory within a socio-rhetorical framework, this dissertation argues that Paul's teaching in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7 is best viewed as an example of early Christian didactic wisdom that wrestles with the proper use of the Christian body vis-à-vis sexual activity. In Paul's two pronged attack on the problem of porneia he first shows the Corinthians, using rhetographic argumentation, why it is the worst of all possible bodily sins and he then explains, using rhetological argumentation, how they can best avoid it. Paul's didactic wisdom teaching in this pericope, however, is always already energized by an apocalyptic worldview. Moreover, Paul's wisdom in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7 also employs priestly concerns about purity, holiness, and sacred space. Jewish didactic wisdom is concerned to teach people how to live a life of generative righteousness and is willing to use whatever resources necessary to achieve its goals. Paul, it seems, is most like a Hellenistic Jewish teacher of wisdom when he opens up the boundaries of his didactic discourse by blending his wisdom teaching with apocalyptic and priestly integration resources. How Paul blends these resources in light of his experience of the risen Christ represents the beginnings of a uniquely Christian wisdom culture.
Book Reviews by Robert von Thaden, Jr.
Early Christ believers wrestled with the proper function of sexual behavior within the life of the community. This paper examines Paul's use of the metaphor THE BODY IS A TEMPLE in 1 Cor 6-7 and demonstrates how this Pauline rhetorical picture is reconfigured to support the radical sexual ideology found in the Acts of Thomas. So powerful is the rhetorical force of Paul's image of embodied temples, I argue, that the Acts of Thomas can deploy it (along with other echoes of Paul's teaching) to argue for a sexual logic at odds with Paul's own.
I engage an aspect of the cognitive science of religion referred to as conceptual integration theory (blending theory). The insights of conceptual integration theory have a natural home within the interpretive framework known as socio-rhetorical interpretation (SRI). In this paper I will describe what I see as the promise of blending theory and further demonstrate how this cognitive mode of examining texts is driving the development of SRI as it produces richly textured interpretations of biblical texts for the 21st century. I will use a brief example from 1 Corinthians to flesh out the promise of conceptual blending for socio-rhetorical interpretation.
In this paper I examine children as conceptual signifiers in religious rhetoric. While children are generally viewed positively in traditional Jewish wisdom, already in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes anxiety surrounding children exists. From earlier wisdom concerns about children I move to explore how children represent less than ideal ways of being – even of evil ways of being – in the world in the Acts of Thomas 11-12 and a vignette from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers: Alphabetical Collection (Olympius 2). A conceptual bridge between these earlier and later traditions, I argue, is Paul’s wisdom teachings found in 1 Corinthians.
Much ink has been spilled in wrestling with Paul's language found in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7. Using the tools of conceptual integration theory within a socio-rhetorical framework, this dissertation argues that Paul's teaching in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7 is best viewed as an example of early Christian didactic wisdom that wrestles with the proper use of the Christian body vis-à-vis sexual activity. In Paul's two pronged attack on the problem of porneia he first shows the Corinthians, using rhetographic argumentation, why it is the worst of all possible bodily sins and he then explains, using rhetological argumentation, how they can best avoid it. Paul's didactic wisdom teaching in this pericope, however, is always already energized by an apocalyptic worldview. Moreover, Paul's wisdom in 1 Cor 6:12-7:7 also employs priestly concerns about purity, holiness, and sacred space. Jewish didactic wisdom is concerned to teach people how to live a life of generative righteousness and is willing to use whatever resources necessary to achieve its goals. Paul, it seems, is most like a Hellenistic Jewish teacher of wisdom when he opens up the boundaries of his didactic discourse by blending his wisdom teaching with apocalyptic and priestly integration resources. How Paul blends these resources in light of his experience of the risen Christ represents the beginnings of a uniquely Christian wisdom culture.