Forthcoming from Brill: The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John, and the Literacy of Jesus

Thanks to the folks at bibbiablog for passing this one along... I'm looking forward to checking it out. Given its arguments concerning the most familiar placement of the pericope (John 7:53-8:11), I'm curious as to what judgments Keith makes regarding its alternative placements in other New Testament manuscripts (e.g., after John 21:25, after Luke 24:53, etc.). Are these also deliberate insertions? Deviations? Something else entirely?

Although consistently overlooked or dismissed, John 8.6, 8 in the Pericope Adulterae is the only place in canonical or non-canonical Jesus tradition that portrays Jesus as writing. After establishing that John 8.6, 8 is indeed a claim that Jesus could write, this book offers a new interpretation and transmission history of the Pericope Adulterae. Not only did the pericope’s interpolator place the story in John’s Gospel in order to highlight the claim that Jesus could write, but he did so at John 7.53–8.11 as a result of carefully reading the Johannine narrative. The final chapter of the book proposes a plausible socio-historical context for the insertion of the story.

Readership
All those interested in text criticism, the New Testament, the Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John, early Christian book culture, literacy in the ancient world, and New Testament backgrounds.

About the author(s)
Chris Keith, Ph.D. (2008), University of Edinburgh, is Assistant Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Lincoln Christian University.

The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John, and the Literacy of Jesus
Chris Keith

Expected: June 2009
Series: New Testament Tools, Studies and Documents, 38
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007: 978 90 04 17394 1
ISSN: 0077-8842
Cover: Hardback
Number of pages: xvi, 350 pp