Norman Perrin

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Norman Perrin (1920-1976[1]) was Associate Professor of New Testament, at the Divinity School, University of Chicago. Professor Perrin was internationally known for his work on the so-called Redaction Criticism of the New Testament, a quintessentially Protestant methodology that seeks to remove the human accretion in the Church liturgy in order to arrive at the most sacred core of Divine Revelation of Christ.

Begun by Luther, Calvin and Zwingli centuries ago, the Protestant movement originally removed the human accretion of Catholic traditions, costumes, architecture and litany. Four walls, the Bible and a literate congregation of equals; this was the Protestant minimum-set. It was profoundly successful in history, yielding such cultures such as the Anglo-American.

As a follow-up to the basic Protestant strategy, scholars among theologians for the past 200 years have attempted to remove any possible human accretion in the Scriptures themselves. Beginning with historical analysis (ca. 1800-1850), and moving forward to source and text analysis (ca. 1850-1900), advanced Protestant scholars then moved into varities of literary criticism such as Redaction analysis.

Accoring to Norman Perrin (WHAT IS REDACTION CRITICISM? 1969) the project of Redaction analysis begins with the proposition that the Gospel of Mark is the earliest Gospel, and that the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John used the Gospel of Mark as a model, more or less loosely. The modifications (redactions) they made to Mark are fairly easy to discern. However, if we also assume that there was an oral tradition before the Gospel of Mark (or, as some say, a very early written tradition, or Ur-Marcus) it is clearly a scientific challenge to discern its exact contours, and where the author may have made changes, if any. That, simply put, is the work of Redaction Criticism.

The contribution made by Professor Norman Perrin in this new science is still perused widely today.

Contents

[edit] Bibliography

  • The kingdom of God in the teaching of Jesus, by Norman Perrin (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963).
  • The Eucharistic Words of Jesus, by Joachim Jeremias, translated Norman Perrin (London: SCM Press, 1966).
  • Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus, by Norman Perrin (New York: Harper & Row, 1967).
  • The Promise of Bultmann, by Norman Perrin (New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1969).
  • What is redaction criticism?, by Norman Perrin (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969).
  • A modern pilgrimage in New Testament christology., by Norman Perrin (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974).
  • The New Testament: An Introduction: Proclamation and Parenesis, Myth and History., by Norman Perrin (Harcourt College Pub., 1974).
  • Jesus and the language of the kingdom : symbol and metaphor in New Testament interpretation, by Norman Perrin (Philadelphia : Fortress Press, 1976).
  • The Resurrection according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, by Norman Perrin (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977).

[edit] Works About Norman Perrin

  • Understanding the teaching of Jesus : based on the lecture series of Norman Perrin, by David Abernathy. (New York : Seabury Press, 1983).

[edit] References

  1. ^ Welton O. Seal, Jr., 'Norman Perrin and his "School": Retracing a Pilgrimage', Journal for the Study of the New Testament (1984), pp. 87-107

[edit] External links