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  • From: "Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: ideas
  • Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 23:10:35 -0400


> From: Craig S de Vos [mailto:csdevos AT trinity.unimelb.edu.au]

> Indeed, if someone like Paul was not introspective (as Stendahl argued
> convincingly) and if ancient Mediterraneans were members of a collectivist
> culture who understood each other in dyadic and stereotypic terms (as
> Malina, Neyrey et al have argued), the whole argument is pointless. All
> "ideas" would have been seen as handed down from someone, either
> from one's
> group (e.g., the ancestors) or from the divine. Indeed, innovation was
> automatically attributed to the divine because people/society/etc. were
> thought to be fixed and unchanging. And unless change can be attributed to
> the divine it was attributed to the demonic, and it left the individual
> open to a charge of deviance. We see this both in the history of the
> Israelites and in Graeco-Roman society. So if Paul is introducing
> something
> new or innovative he cannot but claim divine inspiration. As such, Paul's
> claim may not be telling us what we think it is.

This is very interesting. The claim of divine inspiration is necessary
because Paul's teachings deviated from the teachings of the Jerusalem group.
This would have left him open to the charge of deviance if he claimed it as
his own idea. But then no one would have been able to claim it as his own
idea. If this was a deviant idea, Paul couldn't claim it as the idea of
someone else either. If he did, that person would be labelled a deviant and
demonic. If the idea deviated from that of his primary reference group, and
it evidently did, then Paul had no choice but to claim divine origin for it.

Liz

>
> Craig
>
>
>
>
> ******************************************
> Dr. Craig S. de Vos
> Bromby Lecturer in New Testament
> Trinity College Theological School
> Royal Parade
> Parkville VIC 3052
> Australia
> (O) +61 3 9349-0129 (F) +61 3 9349-0460
> csdevos AT trinity.unimelb.edu.au
>
Lisbeth S. Fried
Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies
New York University
51 Washington Sq. S.
New York, NY 10012
lqf9256 AT is3.nyu.edu
lizfried AT umich.edu






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