David Rhoads and Performance Criticism
Since the early 1980s few scholars have done more to advance literary and reader-oriented hermeneutics than Dr. David Rhoads (Lutheran Theological Seminary, Chicago). David’s book, Mark as Story (1st ed. co-authored with Donald Michie; 2nd ed. revised with Joanna Dewey) has been a foundational text for anyone wanting to read the Second Gospel as an autonomous narrative with its own distinct theological contributions. The beauty of David’s work is that it has spawned a number of different methodological approaches to the biblical text. One approach in particular is performance criticism. David is currently writing a book on performance criticism. It is not yet ready for publication but you can see some of the results of his efforts at http://www.biblicalperformancecriticism.org/ The site is interesting and contains the work of a number of scholars doing work in this area.
(BTW, Dr. Kelly Iverson [St. Andrews, Scotland] and I are currently editing a book with SBL titled, Mark as Story: Retrospect and Prospect. The book celebrates the achievements of Mark as Story and explores the hermeneutical traectories that were spawned by its publication. The book will include, among other topics, two essays on Performance Criticism: one from Tom Boomershine and one from Whitney Shiner. I’ll post more on this in the coming months).
Good to hear about the forthcoming volume! I look forward to more information.