In this original study, Vernon Robbins brings together social-scientific and literary-critical approaches to explore early Christianity. Treating its canonical texts as ideological constructs, Robbins investigates Christianity as a cultural phenomenon, and expounds and develops a system of socio-rhetorical criticism.
"The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse" first establishes a concept of culture and then combines it with Geertz' anthropological concept of 'thick description'. Subsequently, the relation of texts to society and culture is discussed. In this manner, multiple methods of interpretation are used in an organized and programmatic way, allowing the reader distinctly new insights into the development of early Christianity.

In this original study, Vernon Robbins expounds and develops his system of socio-rhetorical criticism, bringing together social-scientific and literary-critical approaches to explore early Christanity. Denying that there is only one valid way of interpretation, this book investigates Christianity as a cultural phenomenon, and treats its canonical texts as ideological constructs.
The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse first establishes a concept of culture and then combines it with Geertz' anthropological concept of 'thick description'. Subsequently, the relation of texts to society and culture is discussed. In this manner, multiple methods of interpretation are used in an organized and programmatic way, allowing the reader distinctly new insights into the development of early Christianity.
Robbins' approach opens new doors not only for students of the Bible, but also for those interested in new theories and applications of textual interpretation.

"This book makes an important, indeed a groundbreaking, contribution to Markan studies. Not only does it address a lacuna in these studies, but it does so by means of an innovative methodology. . .that permits a satisfying integration of the Jewish background of Mark's Gospel with its Greco-Roman background while retaining a sensitivity to the literary dimensions of the text as well as an interest in its reader. Robbins has accomplished a remarkable feat. . . . Markan studies are certain to benefit greatly from this work." -Jouette M. Bassler Journal of Biblical Literature "Robbins proposes a challenging alternative to current approaches to the study of Mark by demonstrating that its literary qualities are inseparable from ancient social conventions in which Greco-Roman traditions are no less relevant than those of the Old Testament and early Judaism. This book is a major contribution to Markan scholarship as well as an incisive critique of some of the self-imposed limitations of contemporary New Testament research." -David E. Aune University of Notre Dame "In this important contribution of Markan studies, Robbins demonstrates that contemporary approaches to the New Testament can lead to genuinely new and fruitful insights." -Richard I. Pervo Anglican Theological Review "This volume breaks new ground in Markan study in the areas of historical background, genre, structure, plot, and theology. . . . It contains more fresh ideas than most books of its size." -Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. Catholic Biblical Quarterly Vernon K. Robbins is Professor of New Testament and Comparative Sacred Texts in the Department and Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University in Atlanta. He was appointed Winship Distinguished Research Professor in the Humanities in 2001. Among his many books are The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse and Exploring the Texture of Texts.

Socio-rhetorical criticism has established itself as one of the promising new methods of biblical study today. Vernon K. Robbins here provides an accessible introduction to socio-rhetorical criticism, illustrating the method by guiding the reader through the study of specific New Testament texts and stories.An opening chapter outlines this new approach and its focus on values, convictions, and beliefs both in the texts we read and in the world in which we live. Then follow chapters on getting inside a text (inner texture), that is, studying the internal aspects of words and meanings in the text: entering the interactive world of the test (intertexture, ), that is relating the text being interpreted to a wide range of phenomena that lie outside the text: living with the text in the world (social and cultural texture), that is, examining the social and cultural locations in the world that the language of the text evokes: and shared interests in commentary and in the text (ideological texture), that is, looking at the way the text itself and interpreters of the text position themselves in relation to other individuals and groups.Texts studied include the rich man and Jesus in Mark 10:17-22 (inner texture): the Pentecost event in Acts 2 (intertexture): the woman who anointed Jesus in Luke 7:36-50 and John 9 (social and cultural texture): the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-40 and "women keep silent" in 1 Corinthians 14: 26-40 (ideological texture).Vernon K. Robbins is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion, Emory University, and the author of Ancient Quotes and Anecdotes: From Crib to Crypt and The Rhetoric of Pronouncement.