Rhetorics and Hermeneutics: Wilhelm Wuellner and His Influence

Wilhelm Wuellner is the father of rhetorical criticism of the New Testament and his work has focused on the ever-present relationship between hermeneutics and rhetorics. He has emphasized that at no time in the history of rhetoric was rhetoric a unified or monolithic field. He attributes the demise of rhetoric in the nineteenth century to the rise of Romanticism and its connection with irrationalism, as well as the profound technological shift in the media of communication with the advent of the print culture and the loss of the living word and he emphasizes the counter-cultural nature of Jewish and Christian rhetoric. Together the essays provide not only a fitting tribute to the continuing influence of Wuellner and his work but also original studies of various New Testament texts read through the eyes of rhetorical criticism. Since Wuellner is well-known outside of New Testament circles, this collection will also appeal to classical rhetoricians. James D. Hester is Professor Emeritus of Religion at the University of the Redlands, California. J. David Hester is an Alexander von Humbolt Research Fellow at the Interfaukultares Zentrum fur Ethik in den Wissenschaften of the Univerity of Tubingen. He is also the adjunct Instructor of Humanities at Santa Rosa Junior College, California.