The Use of `Story' in the Letter of Jude: Rhetorical Strategies of Jude's Narrative Episodes

Abstract

Jude's use of `story' is integral to his rhetorical argument. The author uses narrative episodes drawn from the Jewish scriptural tradition, the story of Jesus, and the story of the Christian community to whom he writes to accomplish his rhetorical purposes. The narrative episodes drawn from the Jewish scriptural tradition and from the story of Jesus do not create a coherent story with a plot, but the narrative episodes concerning the Christian community do have a coherent story with plot and conflict. Jude weaves narrative episodes from the Jewish scriptural tradition and from the story of Jesus into the story of the readers' Christian community in order to have a rhetorical impact on the direction of the future plot-line of this community's story.