"The Teaching of These Words" Intertextuality, Social Identity, and Early Christianity - (Bible in Ancient Christianity) (Hardcover)

About the Book

The essays in this book explore social-identity formation in second-century Christian communities as informed by intertextuality, that is, the intersection of community texts with Scripture and related works.

Book Synopsis

What does it mean for a group to speak of its identity and, in contrast, to speak about the "other"? As with all groups, early Christian communities underwent a process of identity formation, and in this process, intertextuality played a role. The choice of biblical texts and imageries, their reception and adaptation, affected how early Christian communities perceived themselves. Conversely, how they perceived themselves affected which texts they were drawn to and how they read and received them. The contributors to this volume examine how early Christian authors used Scripture and related texts and, in turn, how those texts shaped the identity of their communities.

About the Author

Jonathan A. Draper, Ph.D. (1984), Cambridge, is Professor Emeritus, University of Natal. He has published widely on topics in the New Testament and early Christianity as well as on subjects for the contemporary church. He is currently writing a new commentary on the Didache.

Nancy D. Pardee, Ph.D. (2002), University of Chicago, is administrator for the Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies, University of Chicago. She has publications in biblical and early Christian studies, including The Genre and Development of the "Didache" (Mohr Siebeck, 2012).

Shawn J. Wilhite, Ph.D. (2023), Durham University, is Associate Professor of New Testament at California Baptist University. He has published monographs and articles in the field of Early Christianity and Patristics, including The Didache: A Commentary (Cascade, 2019).