Performance Criticism
- What is Performance Criticism?
- Assumptions, Applications, Assessment by Ernst Wendland
- Preparing to Perform by Phil Ruge-Jones
- Performing Philemon, Galatians, James by David Rhoads
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Our Purpose
- To promote Performance Criticism
- To report developments in this emerging discipline
- To be a clearinghouse for resources
- To provide a network for scholars and performers
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In Memoriam
John Miles Foley
1947-2012
John Miles Foley died Thursday May 3, 2012 at the age of 65. We are thankful for his life, which was gracious and insightful, and his work, which is foundational to understanding the composition and performance of oral traditions--for Biblical Performance Criticism.
Requiem Aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetuae luceat eis.
Reading and Reading Culture in the High Roman Empire
A Study of Elite Communities
by William Allen Johnson
Oxford University Press, 2010
In Readers and Reading Culture in the High Roman Empire, William Johnson examines the system and culture of reading among the elite in second-century Rome. The investigation proceeds in case-study fashion using the principal surviving witnesses, beginning with the communities of Pliny and Tacitus (with a look at Pliny's teacher, Quintilian) from the time of the emperor Trajan. Johnson then moves on to explore elite reading during the era of the Antonines, including the medical community around Galen, the philological community around Gellius and Fronto (with a look at the curious reading habits of Fronto's pupil Marcus Aurelius), and the intellectual communities lampooned by the satirist Lucian. Along the way, evidence from the papyri is deployed to help to understand better and more concretely both the mechanics of reading, and the social interactions that surrounded the ancient book. The result is a rich cultural history of individual reading communities that differentiate themselves in interesting ways even while in aggregate showing a coherent reading culture with fascinating similarities and contrasts to the reading culture of today.
Of significant interest to scholars of Performance Criticism, Johnson gives a succinct summary of the scholarly debate about silent reading in antiquity concluding that "ancient thinkers were not unaccustomed to the notion of silent reading" (8). Johnson writes this book to explore, "how exactly the ancients went about reading, and how the ancient reading culture (as I will call it) does in fact differ from the reading-from-a-printed book model familiar to us today" (9).
4 Ezra and 2 Baruch
Literary Composition and Oral Performance in First-Century Apocalyptic Literature
by Matthias Henze
JBL 131.1 (Spring 2012)
Students of 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch have long noticed the numerous thematic, generic, and linguistic parallels that exist between them.1 Both texts were written in the late first or possibly the early second century C.E., most likely in the land of Israel. The composition of both works was triggered by the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E., as both texts are, in essence, elaborate responses to the host of challenges posed by the Roman aggression. Both stories are set fictitiously during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in the sixth century B.C.E. 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch are Jewish apocalypses of the historical type, and both make extensive use of the same set of literary genres, such as prophetic dialogue, prayer, public speech, and the symbolic dream vision. Neither author reveals his identity but instead chooses to write pseudonymously in the voice of a biblical scribe of the exilic and early postexilic period: Ezra, who returned the Torah to Jerusalem, and Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah. What drives the momentum forward is a continuous revelatory dialogue between the seer and God, or God's interpreting angel. By the end of each book both seers have undergone a remarkable transformation, from skeptic to consoler, ideal community leader, and latter-day Moses.
The Living Pulpit
on Bible Engagement
The Living Pulpit is a web journal dedicated to the art of preaching. Currently it features articles from an October 2011 conference on Bible Engagement on topics that intersect with performance criticism, including "The Bible and Social Memory" and "Preaching David and Saul in Multicultural Contexts." A free trial subscription is available until June 30, 2012. Consider this quote from Joseph Crockett, "Built on the Word: The Bible and Christian Formation":
Bible engagement is an intentional, goal-directed activity. As language shapes an individual’s thought categories and empowers him or her to transcend those categories, engagement with biblical narratives involves social processes that can build and transform character.