Ad theophilum : a socio-rhetorical reading of Peter in Acts in Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis.

Abstract

This study is an exercise in biblical interpretation that focuses on the concepts of readers and meaning. Through the use of both literary and sociological models this study takes a particular given context for Codex Bezae and reads the manuscript in light of that context with three distinct yet intertwined horizons in view: the innertexture, the intertexture, and the extratexture. The innertexture focuses on the level of the text itself and how the text teaches the authorial audience to read. The intertexture focuses on the use of significant intertexts, progenitors that have both influenced and were adapted by Codex Bezae and the authorial audience. The extratexture focuses on the cultural and social texts -- social norms -- that comprise the baggage the authorial audience brings to the reading process. These three horizons are intertwined to provide a holistic reading that attempts to account for each of these unique levels reading response. After an introductory chapter to explain the purpose, approach, and scope of this study, chapter two develops the areas of the authorial audience's competency into two areas: (1) external knowledge the reader is expected to bring to the text; and (2) internal knowledge the reader gains during the reading process. This chapter then traces the historical economy of knowledge of the authorial audience. Chapter three develops the authorial audience's narrative economy of and concludes with an assessment of the reader and proposal for the exegetical work of this project. Chapters four and five set the reading methodology into practice by examining the major character in the first half of Acts: Peter. These two chapters examine how the authorial audience would respond in a cumulative reading to this significant character and his role in the text given a cumulative reading strategy. Chapter six concludes this project by summarizing the findings of the previous chapters.