Book Cover -- Title -- Contents -- List of illustrations -- List of abbreviations -- Preface -- THE CHALLENGE OF SOCIO-RHETORICAL CRITICISM -- The relation of Christianity to culture -- The relation of texts to society, culture and history -- The relation of New Testament interpretation to theology -- The relation of disciplinary methods to an interpretive analytics -- Conclusion -- REDRAWING THE BOUNDARIES WITH SOCIO-RHETORICAL CRITICISM -- The interpreter's location and ideology -- Inner texture -- Intertexture -- Social and cultural texture -- Ideological texture -- Conclusion -- INNER TEXTURE: EVERY READING HAS A SUBTEXT -- Repetitive-progressive texture -- Opening-middle-closing texture -- Narrational texture -- Argumentative texture -- Sensory-aesthetic texture -- Inner texture in 1 Corinthians 9 -- Conclusion -- INTERTEXTURE: EVERY COMPARISON HAS BOUNDARIES -- Oral-scribal intertexture -- Cultural intertexure -- Social intertexture -- Historical intertexture -- Intertexture in 1 Corinthians 9 -- Conclusion -- SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TEXTURE: EVERY MEANING HAS A CONTEXT -- Specific social topics in religious literature -- Common social and cultural topics -- Final cultural categories -- Summary -- Social and cultural texture in 1 Corinthians 9 -- Conclusion -- IDEOLOGICAL TEXTURE: EVERY THEOLOGY HAS A POLITICS -- Ideology in texts -- Ideology in authoritative traditions of interpretation -- Ideology in intellectual discourse -- Ideology in individuals and groups -- Ideological texture in 1 Corinthians 9 -- Conclusion -- THE PROMISE OF SOCIO-RHETORICAL CRITICISM -- Multiple textures in texts -- Rewriting the historiography of first-century Christianity -- Socio-rhetorical criticism and other fields of study -- Bibliography -- Index of scriptures and ancient texts -- Index of modern authors -- Index of subjects.