Embedded Genres in the New Testament - by Jeannine K Brown (Paperback)

About the Book

A widely respected scholar introduces embedded genres in the New Testament and explores how these genres within genres contribute to the messages of the New Testament authors.

Book Synopsis

Recognizing what we are reading--the genre--is crucial for understanding any written work, including the books of the New Testament. However, we may not always realize we use genre categories as we interpret, whether explicitly or implicitly. Embedded genres, or genres within genres, can substantively impact the interpretation of an entire New Testament book.

This short, accessible book by a widely respected scholar and seasoned teacher introduces embedded genres, their impact on New Testament interpretation, and how they contribute to the message of the New Testament authors. Jeannine Brown offers hermeneutical guidance for interpreting embedded genres and explores the hermeneutical questions they raise. She focuses on three case studies of embedded genres that have been contested, underidentified, or underappreciated across the New Testament corpus: the Christ poem in Philippians 2, riddles in Matthew, and the household code in 1 Peter.

Students of the New Testament, pastors, and ministry leaders will value this work.

From the Back Cover

"Every interpreter of the Bible, whether a professional or a serious student, will benefit from Brown's work."

Jeannine Brown introduces embedded genres in the New Testament and explores how these genres within genres contribute to the messages of the New Testament authors.

"Brown's book, although learned, is accessible and engaging. It is an invitation to the art of noticing, a call to sit and ruminate that will move readers of the New Testament to realize that, all too often, they have been seeing without seeing."
--Dale C. Allison Jr., Princeton Theological Seminary

"A fresh look at how the microgenres within biblical books relate to their macrogenre and why that matters for more-faithful interpretation. Every interpreter of the Bible, whether a professional or a serious student, will benefit from Brown's work."
--Karen H. Jobes, Wheaton College (emerita)

"Brown's nuanced study models fine-grained historical and literary attention to the dynamics of embedded genres and gives her readers the tools to do the same. A boon to all serious teachers and students of the New Testament."
--Susan Eastman, Duke Divinity School (emerita)

"Brown illuminates 'embedded genres, ' micro-literary pieces within a larger text. She offers a convincing case that readers benefit greatly from keen awareness of where these embedded units occur, how they deserve special attention, and how they affect the whole. She fills a gap left by textbooks that often miss this important topic."
--Nijay K. Gupta, Northern Seminary

"Centering our attention on embedded literary forms in the Bible, on how they shape and are shaped by the books in which they appear, Brown cultivates good habits by urging us to slow down and listen up. Her work with texts from Philippians, Matthew, and 1 Peter is stimulating on its own terms, and even more so as she addresses larger interpretive possibilities and invites us to do the same."
--Joel B. Green, Fuller Theological Seminary

About the Author

Jeannine K. Brown (PhD, Luther Seminary) is the David Price Professor of Biblical and Theological Foundations at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the author of Scripture as Communication, The Gospels as Stories, two commentaries on Matthew, and a commentary on Philippians. She coauthored Relational Integration between Psychology and Christian Theology and Becoming Whole and Holy and is a coeditor of the revised Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Brown has also served as a translation consultant for the New International Version, Common English Bible, and New Century Version.