Socio-Rhetorical Examples
Definition of repetitive texture.
Repetitive-progressive texture began clearly to appear when Robert Tannehill (1975), Phyllis Trible (1978, 1984) and Robert Alter (1981) published literary-rhetorical interpretations that displayed integrated patterns of repetition and progression in biblical texts. Tannehill's presentation and discussion of Luke 6.37-38 exhibits well how this first appeared. In The Sword of His Mouth, he displayed the text for his reader, but he did not add underlining, italics and bold print to aid the reader in identifying the repetition and progression in the unit:
37(a) Judge not, and you will not be judged;
Condemn not, and you will not be condemned;
(b) Forgive, and you will be forgiven;
38Give, and it will be given to you;
(c) A measure good,
pressed down,
shaken together,
running over,
will be put into the lap of you.
(d) For by the measure with which you measure
it will be measured back to you.
(Tannehill 1975: 107)
These four sayings have repetitive-progressive texture based on various kinds of restatement and sequence. The first two lines establish a repetitive pattern in three basic ways: (1) the first and second parts of each line repeat the word 'not'; (2) a verb that occurs in the first part in active voice ('judge') occurs in the second part in passive voice ('will be judged'); and (3) each line addresses 'you' (plural in Greek). This repetitive pattern creates a context for repetition and progression throughout the verses. Sayings (a), (b), and (d) all contain a sequence in which the same verb occurs first in active voice and then in passive voice (underlined words). In the context of this repetitive pattern, a progressive pattern unfolds that builds to a dramatic conclusion. Saying (b) removes the 'not', so that the prohibitions 'judge not' and 'condemn not' in saying (a) become positive exhortations to 'forgive' and 'give'. In this context of positive exhortation, saying (c) introduces the concept of a measure. But instead of repeating the pattern of the first two sayings precisely, it builds on the progressive pattern that introduces a new verb in each new line: judge, condemn, forgive, give. Four new verbal concepts occur in saying (c): pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put. A passive verb occurs at the end of the sequence, continuing the last part of the repetitive pattern in the first two sayings. Progression builds new expectations as the saying starts with a noun rather than a verb ('measure') and introduces four new verbs. What will follow after this repetitive-progressive sequence? The fourth saying starts with the conjunction 'for', which signals a conclusion, and with the noun which appeared at the beginning of the third saying ('measure'). Then the active verb 'measure' (repeating letters and sounds in 'to measure') occurs in the first part of the saying followed by the passive 'will be measured back' in the second part. The concluding saying, then, presents the repetitive pattern of the first two sayings in a context of the progressive pattern that has emerged from the beginning to the end.
In the midst of this progressive-repetitive texture, 'you' (plural) occurs in every saying throughout the unit. In the first three and next to last lines, 'you' is the implied subject of each verb. In Greek this subject is part of the verb form itself rather than a separate pronoun as it is in English. In English translation, 'you' is implied with the active form and stated with the passive form of the verb. In the fourth line, the saying (c) and the last line of the unit, either 'to you' or 'of you' occurs as the very last word of the line (in Greek). This means that address to 'you' is a repetitive feature that gives a unified focus throughout the unit. Tannehill, working closely with the repetition and progression throughout the unit, observed that its special meaning effects emerge from the manner in which it 'brings together situations which we may normally keep apart' (1975: 107).
From: Vernon K. Robbins (1996) The Tapestry of Early Christian Discourse: Rhetoric, Society and Ideology, London: Routledge: 46-48.
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