RLG100Y1 Lecture : March 19.docx
Document Summary
Reading the new testament is an exercise in reading other people"s mail: 21 of 27 nt texts are letters; acts contains letters; revelation is presented as a circular letter to the seven churches (epistolary genre [episle = letter]) Letterness very important: written by people about whom we know very little to people about whom we know even less, without a date on them. Exercise in approaching the letter: dickens, pickwick papers ; Letter is a substitute for a conversation with the purpose of a dialogical exchange, but the dialogue is mediated by spatial and temporal distance. This understanding of letters is in line with ancient conceptions . Exercise in interpreting letters: interpretation and interrogation. Letter greeting - si vales, bene est, ego valeo (svbeev) (tripartite: Galatians 6:11 see what large letters i make when i am writing in my own hand! .