Gossip was a vigorous and vital social phenomenon in the biblical world, and especially the New Testament. After assaying how modern research of this oral phenomenon has been brought to bear specifically on the New Testament, texts both describing “gossip in action,” and appraising gossip in the canonical Gospels and the Pauline corpus are examined in order to highlight its role along with other social processes in constituting identity. The aim is to demonstrate how seeing texts through the lens of this peculiar social process provides readers with new and interesting insight into the social world from which the New Testament emerged.
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