Aída Besançon, Spencer – författare

Paul's Literary Style determines quantitatively how Paul varies the style of his writing to assist communication with different communities and to ascertain some constant characteristics of his writing. Using 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:13, Romans 8:9-39, and Philippians 3:2-4:13, the author uncovers the performance of ten stylistic operations: sentence changes, complexity of the writing, adverbs and adverbial clauses, propositional reduction; logical diagrams, abstract versus concrete nouns, imagery, Leo Spitzer's philological circle, verb density, and variety of sentence length. In this study, stylistics denotes the use of linguistics as a tool of literary criticism by which to investigate the aesthetic effects of language. This methodology produces an investigation to compare Paul's style of communication to three different communities and discover his adaptations to different audiences.

With issues such as the ordination of women and the call for "inclusive" language affecting the church today, Aída Spencer has provided a helpful and important study of how the Scriptures really speak to these and other issues related to the role of women in the church. From the biblical account of creation and "the fall" to other relevant Old Testament passages, Beyond the Curse carefully examines the attitudes toward and teachings about women--especially those of Jesus and Paul. Beyond the Curse sheds light on instances in the New Testament of feminine authority and on feminine metaphors used in Scripture to define God, the church, and society. Jesus is shown to have broken through the cultural barriers of first-century Palestine in his attitudes toward and dealings with women. Paul's later works are found to be consistent with Jesus' views, as Spencer notes the vital place of women in Paul's ministry. Women in leadership roles and the many implications are viewed firsthand by Spencer--herself a minister. William David Spencer, the author's husband, gives an afterword, explaining his personal journey as the spouse of an ordained minister. Timely and vital to an understanding of the growth of a woman's role in the church, Beyond the Curse is a compelling and important work.

In this book, the authors present exhaustive literary and theological textual analyses of all Jesus' teachings, on prayer, parables, and model prayer. Jesus' teachings on prayer are compared with his own practice and examples recorded in the text. In the appendix, stylistic analysis is employed to compare Jesus' prayer with Greek cultic prayer. The authors conclude that prayer for Jesus was the authentic communication of a life acting out the commandments of God.