This 2004 book in English integrates detailed literary criticism of the exorcism stories in Luke-Acts with wide-ranging comparative study of ancient sources on demonology, spirit affliction and exorcistic healing. Methods from systemic functional linguistics and critical theory are explained and then applied to each story. Careful focus is placed on each narrative's linguistic functions and also on relevant aspects of its literary co-text and the wider context of culture. Implications of the analysis for the new perspective on Luke-Acts, especially the implied author's relationship with Judaism, are explored in relation to the Lukan stories' original context of reception. Largely neglected interfaces between Luke's narrative representation of exorcism and emerging academic discourse about religious experience, shamanism, health care in antiquity, ritual performance and ancient Jewish systems of impurity are probed in ways that shed fresh light on this supremely alien part of the Lukan writings.

This 2004 book situates the Lukan exorcism stories within the cultural contexts of both Judaism and popular belief.

About the Author
Todd Klutz is a Lecturer in New Testament Studies, Department of Religions and Theology, University of Manchester.

Reviews
Review of the hardback: 'Klutz displays an extensive in contextual issues relating to exorcism, magic and shamanism ... As well as becoming a standard scholarly text on the analysis of biblical exorcism narratives, this book should become an important input to debate about Luke-Acts in general.' Peter Oakes, JSNT Booklist
Review of the hardback: 'Recently I heard a student describing a Scripture course as reversing the domestication of Scripture that has for so long been our practice. Reading Klutz is a welcome step in the same direction.' Sean Kealy, Review of Biblical Literature
Review of the hardback: 'Many scholars have attempted to make linguistic theory the basis for fruitful exegesis of important biblical texts but, often, the results have been rather thin. Not so with Todd Klutz. In a very disciplined and contextually aware study, he puts sociostylistics effectively to work, with results that move the Lukan exorcism narratives to a vital position for understanding both Lukan Christology and the setting and purpose of Luke-Acts. ... As well as becoming a standard scholarly text on the analysis of biblical exorcism narratives, this book should become an important input to debate about Luke-Acts in general.' Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Review of the hardback: 'This monograph is highly recommended to those who are interested in the field of Sociostylistics, exorcistic healing in the New Testament and the narrative of Luke-Acts.' Neotestamentica



Book Information
ISBN 9780521838047
Author Todd Klutz
Format Hardback
Page Count 312
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 550g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 21mm