Proceeding from the basic insight that rhetoric is not a matter of stylistic ornamentation but of persuasive argumentation, Burton Mack: (1) lays out the historical factors surrounding the loss and recovery of rhetorical understanding in dealing with the New Testament; (2) describes classical and Greco-Roman rhetoric; (3) applies rhetorical categories to the interpretation of a selection of New Testament texts; and (4) analyzes the place of rhetorical criticism in the configuration of critical methods and hermeneutics.