Socio-Rhetorical Examples
Definition of social location.
One of the central components of ideology is social location, since 'one's social location or rhetorical context is decisive of how one sees the world, constructs reality or interprets biblical texts' (Schüssler Fiorenza 1988: 5). Vernon Robbins developed a model for investigating the social location of the discourse in a text (1991). The model correlates the rhetorical strategies of the implied author/reader, narrator/narratee, and character/audiences (Chatman 1978) with the social arenas of previous events, natural environment and resources, population structure, technology, socialization and personality, culture, foreign affairs, belief systems and ideologies and political-military-legal system (Carney 1975). Since an implied reader personifies the discourse of a text in terms of its 'implied author', the essay explores the social location of the discourse in the mode of the implied author in the text. The exploration reveals a location of the thought of Luke-Acts among adult Jews and Romans who have power in cities and villages. The discourse speaks upwards toward Roman officials with political power but considers Jewish officials to be equal in social status and rank. The rhetoric of the discourse calls for distribution of wealth among the poor, but it does not argue for permitting the poor to become landowners or householders. The discourse claims that Christians are an authentic part of the heterogeneous population of the Roman Empire and identifies some political-military-legal personnel as members of the Christian movement. Vigorous confrontation with Jewish people from whom it claims its heritage interweaves with direct but polite communication with Roman officials. Overall the discourse exhibits boldness of speech and action throughout the Mediterranean world, yet there is an ambivalence borne of subordination: political-military-legal people both protect Christians and imprison them in an environment where conflict continually develops between Christians and Jews (Robbins 1991a: 331-2).
From: Vernon K. Robbins (1996) The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse: Rhetoric, Society and Ideology, London: Routledge: 194.
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