Text and Story: Narrative Studies in New Testament Textual Criticism

Synopsis: Did the Jesus of St. Lukes Gospel come to heal the brokenhearted (4:18)? Did Marks Jesus call his disciples to prayer and fasting (9:29) and did he cry from the cross My God my God why have you persecuted me? (15:34). Did St. Paul write to the Romans that God works all things together for good for those who love him (8:28)? Did the author of Hebrews declare that Jesus died apart from God (2:9)? These statements are found in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament but are not included in our standard printed editions or translations. Peter Rodgers argues that these and other textual variations should be reconsidered. After reviewing ten important verses using the traditional areas of text-critical inquiry (manuscript evidence internal criteria such as style and transcriptional probabilities) Rodgers turns our attention to important but neglected narrative features indicated by quotations allusions and echoes of the Old Testament. These references to the story told in the Scriptures of Israel shed new light on the passages considered offering fresh material and greater perspective for making judgments about the original text. Endorsements: Rodgers well-researched arguments should encourage exegetes to benefit from the insights of textual criticism and text critics to harness the current approach of narrative criticism. His is a timely and carefully paced examination that demonstrates that much Christian teaching and church history may be unearthed by the judicious use of a critical apparatus to a Greek New Testament. -J. K. Elliott University of Leeds Although Text and Story is not intentionally written as a textbook on textual criticism Peter Rodgers offers enough technical material on this discipline to demonstrate how it enables us to understand certain textual variants in the New Testament. But Rodgers is not afraid to question or depart from some of the text-critical conclusions of previous and current scholars. The unique and somewhat courageous attribute of the book is that the author finds possible solutions in the narrative features of the texts in question and in Old Testament quotations allusions and narratives that lie behind them but that may have been forgotten changed and/or omitted during the process of transmission. -Arthur G. Patzia Fuller Theological Seminary Seasoned parish priest and New Testament text critic Peter Rodgers deftly guides his reader through the complexities of text criticism. He creatively explores the theological and hermeneutical fruits of this often mind-numbing but time-tested method by means of narrative criticism. This is a priceless resource for seminarians pastors and priests alike who want to understand the lay of the land of this classic method but who often find themselves put off by the methods technical intricacies. -Kathryn Greene-McCreight St. Johns Episcopal Church New Haven Author Biography: Peter R. Rodgers is Pastor of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Antelope California and Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary Sacramento Campus.