Figure 3: Rhetoric Internal to Each Belief System

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Scot Skinner
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1 Dynamic Blending in Early Christian Systems/Rhetorolects Vernon K. Robbins (August 29, 2008) Figure 3 below exhibits the dominant social, cultural and ideological rhetoric internal to each belief system. Figure 4 exhibits some of the multiple kinds of expressions that could emerge in early Christian discourse as a result of blendings of the belief systems with one another. Figure 3: Rhetoric Internal to Each System Wisdom Apocalyptic Precreation Prophetic Miracle Priestly Speech of God, Christ, and fruitfulness produced a new beginning and return will produce a new world life in and exhort people to be a righteous glorification of God and holy benefit for Dynamic blending of the six early Christian belief systems created a richly variegated culture of early Christian discourse by the end of the first century. Believers blended each belief system dynamically with the other belief systems either by blending multiple belief systems into one dominant belief system or by blending particular belief systems together in a particularly forceful manner. The dynamics of these blendings throughout the verbal culture of early Christianity produced a continually increasing combination of cognitions, reasonings, picturings, and argumentations. This interactive process continued in Christian discourse throughout the centuries, and it continues in our present day. 1

Figure 4: Rhetorics in Each System/Rhetorolect Wisdom Prophetic Miracle Precreation Wisdom Apocalyptic Precreation Prophetic Miracle Priestly Speech of Speech of Speech of Speech of God, Speech of

sacrificial, holy good endings benevolence and fruitfulness goodness in and exhort people to produce righteous fruit transformed fruitfulness fruit for people into new beginnings new beginnings

2 Figure 4: Rhetorics in Each System/Rhetorolect Wisdom Prophetic Miracle Precreation Wisdom Apocalyptic Precreation Prophetic Miracle Priestly Speech of Speech of Speech of Speech of God, Speech of God, Speech of God, God, Christ, God, Christ, God, Christ, Christ, and Christ, and Christ, and and and and calls new people to produce a miraculously fruitfulness beginnings and fruit righteous sacrificial, holy good endings benevolence and fruitfulness goodness in and exhort people to produce righteous fruit transformed fruitfulness fruit for people into new beginnings new beginnings beginnings in people into an righteous of life in Christ, to call and exhort people to be a righteous and/or through calls people to be transformed into a righteous calls people to be an of people s bodies Christ, to call people into miraculous, righteous miraculous in Christ, to call people into sacrificial, holy righteousness and/or through Christ and holy of through sacrifice and sacrifice produce holiness in Priestly Apocalyptic holy fruit for new fruit and return will produce an abundant harvest holy beginnings for produced a new beginning and return will produce a new world holiness in destruction of sin and renewal of life for People, Christ, are called to sacrificial action internal to a holy of called people into God's in the world and return will call people into holy in exorcism of demons from bodies and return will produce resurrection of bodies to life holy benefit for and return a new holy benefit for through his sacrificial death 2

3 Starting from the top, left corner of Figure 4, one sees that Christian wisdom belief features people s production of goodness and righteousness through guidance from God s speech, which functions as light in human bodies. When wisdom belief blends with apocalyptic belief, the emphasis is on Christ s production of new fruit with his initial to earth and his production of a final harvest of abundant fruit when he comes again. When wisdom belief blends with precreation belief, the emphasis is on God s speech as a medium through which receive life. When wisdom belief blends with prophetic belief, the emphasis is on the production of righteousness and justice that motivates leaders and people in God s to provide food, clothing and shelter for the poor, the widow, the outcast and the foreigner. When wisdom belief blends with miracle belief, the emphasis is on the miraculous of people who usually focus on themselves and their own possessions into people who produce goodness and righteousness in the world through their beneficial actions toward others. When wisdom belief blends with priestly belief, the emphasis is on Christ s sacrifice, which creates a model of losing one s life for the sake of receiving life. Christian apocalyptic belief features Christ s initial to earth to produce a new beginning and Christ s return to earth to produce a new world. When apocalyptic belief blends with wisdom belief, God s speech through Christ new beginnings and good endings. When apocalyptic belief blends with precreation belief, Christ s divinity with God beginnings in that turn endings into a time of joy and celebration. When apocalyptic belief blends with prophetic belief, God and Christ call people into new beginnings. When apocalyptic belief blends with miracle belief, God s power and through Christ new beginnings. When apocalyptic belief blends with priestly belief, Christ s sacrifice holy beginnings for. Christian precreation belief features God s divinity working through Christ s divinity to produce life in. When precreation belief blends with wisdom belief, Christ s speech which comes from God fruit in. When precreation belief blends with apocalyptic belief, Christ s divinity with God destruction of sin and renewal of life within. When precreation belief blends with prophetic belief, God and Christ call people into an righteous. When precreation belief blends with miracle belief, God s power and through Christ of the 3

4 bodies of. When precreation belief blends with priestly belief, Christ s sacrifice holiness in. Christian prophetic belief features a divine call to people and groups to produce righteousness and justice in an earthly that is perceived to be God s. The call regularly requires a person with a message about God s will to confront people whom the narration perceives to have strayed from doing God s will. When prophetic belief blends with wisdom belief, the emphasis is on God s speech which, through Christ, chooses special people and groups to produce righteousness and justice on earth, which is perceived to be the realm of God s. When prophetic belief blends with apocalyptic belief, God s initial sending of Christ brought a call to people to come into God s righteous on earth, and Christ s return will call people into Christ s. When prophetic belief blends with precreation belief, the emphasis is on God s choice of particular people and groups to be leaders and members of God s. When prophetic belief blends with miracle belief, the emphasis is on God s power and through people whom to confront other people with God s power, for the purpose of transforming people to God s will. When prophetic belief blends with priestly belief, God s sending of Christ to die as a sacrifice a call to people to live a life of sacrificial action, which is an internal characteristic of God s holy of. Christian miracle belief features God s power and through people to produce. When miracle belief blends with wisdom belief, the emphasis is on God s speech working through Christ miraculously to produce benevolence and well-being in people s bodies. When miracle belief blends with apocalyptic belief, Christ s initial exorcism of demons from people s bodies, and Christ s return will produce resurrection of people s bodies to life. When miracle belief blends with precreation belief, Christ s relation to the divinity of God redemptive of believing people s bodies. When miracle belief blends with prophetic belief, the emphasis is on God and Christ calling people into righteous. When miracle belief blends with priestly belief, Christ s sacrifice holy of ly. Christian priestly belief features Christ s death on the cross as a sacrifice that holy benefit for, if reciprocally live a life of sacrificial 4

5 action. When priestly belief blends with wisdom belief, God s speech through Christ a sacrificial life that holy fruitfulness. When priestly belief blends with apocalyptic belief, Christ s initial and return new holy benefit for through Christ s death on the cross as a sacrifice for sins. When priestly belief blends with precreation belief, Christ s divinity with God holiness in. When priestly belief blends with prophetic belief, God and Christ call people into sacrificial righteousness. When priestly belief blends with miracle belief, God s power and through Christ holy of. Believers have the potential to blend every belief system with every other belief system either on the terms of one dominant belief system or a particular blend of belief systems. Multiple kinds of blendings created a vibrant, interactive system of Christian discourse by the end of the first century C.E. This system of discourse was able to address issues and topics concerning individual human bodies, households, villages, synagogues, cities, temples, s, empires, the created world, and God s uncreated realm. The ability of this discourse to address microcosmic details about individual bodies on earth as well as macrocosmic details about God s uncreated realm prepared Christianity not only to function in a context where it became the official religion of the Roman empire but also to function potentially in multiple contexts in any culture anywhere in the world. This discourse was able to do this, because it was interactive with topoi that address issues, concerns, emotions, insights, knowledge, and mysteries that cover a spectrum reaching from mundane daily activities to the widest reaches of God s unknown realm of being. To be sure, there are many topics and issues first century Christian discourse did not address. Nevertheless, the spectrum was so wide-reaching that it successfully launched a new culture of discourse in the Mediterranean world that expanded and became continually more nuanced and complex throughout twenty centuries in the history of the world. 5

Religious Discourses/Rhetorolects/Belief Systems Mythical-Historical (Divine Communications) Deity God as Cosmic Father of Earth.

Religious Discourses/Rhetorolects/Belief Systems Mythical-Historical (Divine Communications) Deity God as Cosmic Father of Earth. Mediterranean Jewish and Christian Discourse/Rhetorolects/ in the Context of Religions in the Roman Empire /Rhetorolects/ (Divine Communications) Ritual (Religious Actions) Locations Special Locations