Performing Early Christian Literature

All biblical scholars are committed to the interpretation of ancient written texts, but Biblical Performance Criticism (BPC) reminds interpreters that performance helps us better understand Scripture. A distinct difference between Narrative Criticism and Performance Criticism is the broader application of Performance Criticism to poetic and prose texts that are not grounded in narrative. The ambiguity of prose and poetry that does not readily identify speakers is open to a range of performative interpretations. Furthermore, audiences are necessary for performance and contribute to meaning-making. The embodied experience of performers and audience alike contribute to the interpretation of biblical texts. This article reflects on a performance of Ecclesiastes translated as a script of a television talk show, claiming that embodying and performing Scripture is itself a method for interpretation. Through the performance of Scripture, we are reminded that interpretation is shared and dynamic within the community of faith.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performing Ecclesiastes: Text as Script

Mathews

2023

“…Before undertaking this study of narrated rituals in Mark, it will be helpful to add nuance to Hearon's distinction between narrative and performance criticisms that have developed since her study and to outline how studies of ritual fit with these forms of criticism. The recent presentation of New Testament literary criticism by Michal Beth Dinkler (2020) and Kelly Iverson's (2021) study of performance, audience experience, and the gospels provide helpful overviews of current scholarship on these distinct approaches to New Testament texts. Furthermore, sociocultural (W. A.…”

Section: Narrative Performance and The Role Of Ritualmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a textual narrative, Mark has been the subject of numerous narrative-critical studies, especially in the decades since the publication of Rhoads and Michie's pivotal Mark as Story (Rhoads et al [1982] 2012). The advent of performance criticism has brought additional attention to how oral/aural aspects of the Markan text are well suited to rhetorical effect on audiences in public reading events (Boomershine 1988;Iverson 2014Iverson , 2021Malbon 2002;Shiner 2003;Hartvigsen 2012;Whitenton 2016). However, the boundaries between narrative-and performance-critical readings of the Gospel are blurry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ritual Bridge between Narrative and Performance in the Gospel of Mark

Wheatley

2023

The abundance of ritual descriptions in the Gospel of Mark suggests a discourse about ritual between the narrator and early audiences of the Gospel. The prominence of the ritual of baptism at the beginning (Mark 1:9–11) and anointing at the end (16:1–8), and the recurrence of themes introduced in Jesus’s baptism at turning points in the Gospel (9:2–8; 10:38–39; 15:38–39) suggest broader ritual—and specifically baptismal—significance in the narrative. Recent changes helpfully differentiate narrative- and performance-critical interpretive approaches as text-oriented (narrative) and audience-oriented (performance), but these hermeneutical methods also work in concert. This article combines cognitive studies of narrative immersion with observations about the role of ritual in group identity formation and the impartation of religious traditions to analyze the narration of ritual acts in Mark. Giving attention to the use of internal focalization and description of bodily movements in ritual narrations, this article argues that depictions of rituals in Mark involve the audience in ways that deliver audience-oriented interpretations through text-oriented means. This analysis shows how Mark’s ritual narrations are conducive to evoking the audience’s experience of baptism, familiar to audience members as described in the undisputed Pauline epistles, the only descriptions of the rite that clearly antedate the composition of Mark. Publicly reading these narrated rituals creates an audience experience that neither requires the performance of the ritual in the context of the reading event nor an “acting out” of the ritual depicted in the narrative to create a participatory, communal experience of the text.

“…The meanings in a performance event are found not just in the performers' choices. Rather, characters are constructed in the meaning-making that happens in the interactions between audience, text, performers, and situation (Perry 2019;Iverson 2021;Hearon 2014). Performers and audiences collaborate to interpret the text in real time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perhaps the largest collection of data can be found in Wright (2017). On Gospels/Acts, see Iverson (2021); Keith (2020); Nässelqvist (2016); Shiell (2004);Shiner (2003). On Paul and ancient epistolary conventions of oral delivery, see Oestreich (2016); Doering (2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Right on, Vashti!”: Minor Characters and Performance Choices in the Synagogal Megillah Reading

Homrighausen

2023

Every Purim, synagogues read the biblical Book of Esther aloud in liturgy, a tradition that exemplifies how synagogue performance practices elaborate on, revise, and refine minor characters in the text. This paper studies four such minor characters in performance from the second century to the present: Haman’s sons, Zeresh, Harbona, and Vashti. These characters evince ways in which performance practices of biblical texts construct moral and psychological assessments of characters in the story, through the interaction of audience, performer, text, and liturgical framing. Further, biblical characters are performed differently in ways which parallel textual interpretation of biblical texts as well as changing social trends and values. In performance, the narrative-critical work of characterization comes alive.