Читать книгу The Origins of Christianity and the New Testament - Rebecca I. Denova - Страница 28

Polemic is a verbal or written attack against an opponent, either real or imagined; rhetoric is the art of persuasion, often calling upon figures of speech and stereotypes, and designed to convince an audience of one’s arguments or point of view. (We are familiar with these terms in relation to contemporary politics and charges of “fake news” from both sides.)

Polemic and rhetoric are literary devices applied by all writers in the ancient world. In polemical writings, opponents may be named or constructed in what is known as “a straw man.” “Straw man” is the idea that the opponent’s arguments (as reported by the writer) are always shown to be wrong and thus defeated. Polemic is not “evidence.”

Throughout the Jewish Scriptures and the New Testament, we have numerous examples of these literary devices. It was a favorite device of Jewish Prophets against idolatry and the gospels’ portraits of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and anyone who opposed Jesus.