Synopsis: When the New Testament was read publicly, what effect did the
performances have on the audience? In Delivering from Memory, William
Shiell argues that these performances shaped early Christian paideia
among communities of active, engaged listeners. Using Greco-Roman
rhetorical conventions, Shiell's groundbreaking study suggests that
lectors delivered from memory without memorizing the text verbatim and
audiences listened with their memories in a collaborative process with
the performer. The text functioned as a starting place for emotion,
paraphrase, correction, and instruction. In the process, the
performances trained and shaped the character of the reader and the
formation of the audience. The lector's performance functioned as a
mirror for the audience to examine themselves as children of God. These
conventions shaped the ways lectors performed Jesus. Just as the New
Testament reflects many titles for Jesus, so the canonical form of the
Gospels offers many ways Jesus was performed in the ancient world. By
interpreting through the eyes of performance, we join a conversation
that has existed since the formative stages of the Christian movement.
By performing with the ancient audience, we shape the character of
reader and audience through the emotions, rhetorical figures, and
memories in the text. We raise new questions about audiences in the
ancient world and interpret stories through the ears of performance.
Endorsements: "Drawing on ancient rhetorical criticism and the emerging
field of performance criticism, Shiell uses the Greco-Roman rhetorical
convention of memory to explicate the relationship between performer and
audience in the hermeneutical process of performing and hearing sacred
texts. This book simply sparkles with gems from the rhetorical handbooks
that illuminate the ways in which performance of Christian texts
instructed, informed, and formed (what Shiell calls paideia) the
identity of early Christian audiences as followers of Christ . . . This
is a must-read book for scholars and preachers alike!" -Mikeal C.
Parsons Professor and Macon Chair in Religion Baylor University "Based
on a wealth of information from ancient sources, William Shiell paints a
fascinating picture of the early church as a predominantly oral
culture--performers, audiences, and rhetorical impact. He argues
persuasively that oral teaching from memory shaped the social identity
and practices of early Christian communities. This book will transform
your image of the early church and stimulate fresh possibilities for the
church today. I commend this study to preachers, teachers, students, and
scholars as a solid introduction to the oral ethos of early
Christianity." -David Rhoads Emeritus Professor of New Testament
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Author Biography: William D.
Shiell is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Knoxville,
Tennessee. He is the author of Reading Acts: The Lector and the Early
Christian Audience (2004) and Sessions with Matthew (2008).
