"Although they do not constitute a dominant genre, vision-reports - such as those surrounding the nativity, the transfiguration and resurrection, Stephen's martyrdom, and Jesus's appearance to Saul - appear at crucial moments in numerous New Testament texts. Surprisingly, however, they have occasioned few detailed studies." "Edith Humphrey's careful work nearly fills that gap in the scholarly literature. By means of a literary and rhetorical approach, Humphrey offers new insights into the use of vision-reports, moving beyond previous studies that have tended to focus only on the recorded event (what actually happened?) to the deeper polemical, literary, and theological dimensions (how and to what end do the authors embed the vision-report in their writings?)" "Humphrey details four uses of vision-reports: to complete the narrative, to direct the argument, to shape the narrative, and to fire the imagination. Taking the cue from these narratives, which are at once "open" and "directive," she commends a hermeneutics of receptivity to the reader."--BOOK JACKET.