The Texture of Texts

This is a summary and a response to the book, "The Texture of Texts" by V. K. Robbins

Exploring the Texture of Texts: A Guide to Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation
The Socio-Rhetorical approach to the interpretation of Scripture is intensely involved in the text as well as in the world of the writers of the text and our contemporary world. This approach brings several approaches (literary, social scientific, rhetorical, postmodern, and theological criticism) together in an integrated system of interpretation. This method brings multiple textures into the interpretive mix these textures are: inner texture, intertexture, social and cultural texture, ideological texture and sacred texture.
Inner textual analysis considers the words, their meanings, and patterns in a close reading of the text. Repetitive texture recognizes and considers repetitions of words or phrases in a given pericope. These repetitions often give insight into the overall movement or picture of the defined text. Progression of words or phrases then proceeds from repetition, which can lead to an outline and a way of viewing the divisions and the direction of the text. Narrational texture is the speech patterns of the text and the actors in the text that gives movement to the story. This texture can move from speech by a narrator to speech by one of the actors or it can move through a series of questions. These discourse patterns can reveal meaning as well as the separation of different scenes in the text. The three preceding types of interpretive textures in the text work together to form the opening-middle-closing texture. This is the process of discovering the places of opening, middle, and closing of the discourse, which can take various forms.
The argumentative texture looks for reasoning in the text that is either logical or qualitative. This aspect of interpretation looks to rhetorical theory in analyzing these texts. The sensory-aesthetic texture first looks for clues in the genre of the text in the way they appeal to the emotions of the reader. Another aspect of discovering this pattern is to look for ways the text refers to a body part or action.
The intertexture analysis examines the text in the context of the world around the text in its contemporary setting. Studied in this area would be history, customs, values, roles, systems, norms looking for implications for the text. This comparison would also include an examination of oral tradition and other texts that were relevant to this textual situation. In comparing other texts, one would not only look for exact repetitions but also for fulfillments, amplifications, or elaborations. In these theological elaborations, arguments use ancient rhetoric, which gives rise to their interpretation for relevance to the message of the text. This part of the examination brings the realities of social knowledge (roles, codes, institutions, and relationships) and the historical data to the text to facilitate contextual understanding of the periscopes.
The social and cultural texture analysis considers the common social and cultural world of the text and the people in the text. Specific social topics emerge from the text for example looking for the underlying belief system of how Christianity should relate to the surrounding culture. Examining the common social and cultural concepts of values, codes, and beliefs bring new light in understanding the text. In doing this anachronism (confusing customs of different eras) and ethnocentrism (viewing life through the arrogance of ones own culture) hopefully will not hinder the exegetical process. The final cultural categories define the location of groups in their particular society. This helps the interpreter define the culture rhetoric of an individual or group in the text in that particular situation which informs the understanding of the text.
The ideological analysis of a text examines the biases, opinions, and preferences of the writer and the contemporary reader. As the contemporary reader one examines her/his own social and cultural location realizing that this brings with it certain interpretive baggage. It is also possible to view the texts from different locations of the writer bringing much broader possibilities to interpretation.
Sacred texture analysis examines the interaction between humanity and the divine. This includes perception of God as well as His work on the earth. It also includes how humans respond to God in the way they relate to Him and to other people. This texture comes to the surface in the analyses of other textures and brings fuller understanding to the text.
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Response -
I have finished reading the Robbins book and I have attached a one page summary of the text. However, a one page summary does not do justice to the intricacies of this method or text. I found the text enlightening and intriguing. Some of his concepts are very detailed and I will have to use them to get the real meat of the method. Some of the issues I found familiar and other parts vaguely reminiscent of other issues in hermeneutics especially in the postmodern context. I did find one of his categories a little artificial. When he spoke of counting body actions or parts or things like hearing especially when they were repeated this sounded artificial to me. This also seems a little artificial to the text. Would this have been something that theauthor put in the text or a part of his/her culture that was in the text inadvertently? I did not find his arguments convincing for this aspect of texture. However, I have not tried it yet, so once I try it then maybe I can see this differently.