Author:
Knust, Jennifer Wright, 1966- author.
ImprintPrinceton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2019]
Imprint2019
Descriptionxix, 440 pages : illustrations, facsimiles ; 25 cm
Note:Part I. A case of textual corruption? -- The pericope adulterae and the rise of modern New Testament scholarship -- Part II. The present and absent pericope adulterae -- The strange case of the missing adulteress -- Was the pericope adulterae suppressed? Part I: ancient editorial practice and the (un)likelihood of outright deletion -- Was the pericope adulterae suppressed? Part II: adulteresses and their opposites -- Part III. A divided tradition? The pericope adulterae east and west -- "In certain gospels?" The pericope adulterae and the fourfold Gospel tradition -- "In many copies": the pericope adulterae in the Latin West -- Part IV. Liturgical and scholarly afterlives of the pericope adulterae -- A pearl of the Gospel: the pericope adulterae in late antiquity -- Telling stories in church: the early medieval liturgy and the reception of the pericope adulterae.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-409) and indexes.
Note:"The story of the woman taken in adultery features a dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over whether the adulteress should be stoned as the law commands. In response, Jesus famously states, "Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." To Cast the First Stone traces the history of this provocative story from its first appearance to its enduring presence today. Likely added to the Gospel of John in the third century, the passage is often held up by modern critics as an example of textual corruption by early Christian scribes and editors, yet a judgment of corruption obscures the warm embrace the story actually received. Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman trace the story's incorporation into Gospel books, liturgical practices, storytelling, and art, overturning the mistaken perception that it was either peripheral or suppressed, even in the Greek East. The authors also explore the story's many different meanings. Taken as an illustration of the expansiveness of Christ's mercy, the purported superiority of Christians over Jews, the necessity of penance, and more, this vivid episode has invited any number of creative receptions. This history reveals as much about the changing priorities of audiences, scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an "original" text of John. To Cast the First Stone calls attention to significant shifts in Christian book cultures and the enduring impact of oral tradition on the preservation- and destabilization- of scripture."-- Publisher description.
