anacrisis

noun

1. A stage of the Ancient Greek judicial process in which all of the evidence is produced prior to the trial.

   “If the plaintiff failed to appear at the anacrisis, the suit, of course, fell to the 'ground; if the defendant made default, judgment passed against him.”

   “It is not in the court of an unaccusing conscience that I am declared righteous, but in the wider sphere of Christ's anacrisis or preliminary scrutiny, for He now takes note of my work, that He may judge a righteous judgment in the great Day.'”

2. An interrogation that provokes its subject to make explicit his or her underlying assumptions and deeply held values.

   “Socrates is the archetypal high master of subtle, ironic anacrisis.”

   “In explicating this work, Zappen points to the work of engaged listening, which can manifest itself in anacrisis, the critical testing of one's views, and/or syncrisis, the critical comparison of opposing views.”

3. A dialog or plot event that causes a character to reveal his or her beliefs and motivations.

   “As Bakhtin points out, the "classical Christian dialogic syncrises" (dyads) of the tempted and the tempter, the believer and the nonbeliever, the righteous and the sinner, the beggar and the rich man, etc., as well as the "corresponding anacrises" ("provocations through discourse or plot situation") are familiar to literature developed "within the orbit of menippea."”

   “A genre of “ultimate questions of worldview,” it features internal and external dialogue, including the anacrisis or provocation of a word by others' words, and a utopian vision.”