New methods of literary analysis of the Bible: the rhetorical analysis

Abstract

The rhetorical analysis is one of the new methods of literary analysis developed recently. It is not a new method. What is new is the use of it in a systematic way for the interpretation of the bible. The article discusses the brief history of the new method that is called rhetorical analysis, he present a brief description of the methodology of four stages in the rhetorical analysis. The most important is the fourth stage which covers the interpretation of the text.The purpose of rhetorical analysis is to understandod the text and its meaning better. The analysis of the two examples shows that the text of the New Testament holds up the rules of the Semitic rhetoric. In the presenta tion of the examples the author presents only the analysis of the formal points of the text because: 1) this is the point of interpretation; 2) here the purpose is to present the method and not the interpretation of the same text. Biblical exegesis like each science does the progress. The rhetorical analysis is not the isolated method. It should be used in accordance with the results of the other methods of biblical exegesis, but the declamatory analysis helps much in understanding of the meaning of the purview better, resolves the textual problems, the problems of translation, gives anew meaning of the concept “context.”