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  • From: "Jim Hester" <hester AT jasper.uor.edu>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: slave
  • Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 11:28:41 -0700


Just a small observation.

Stephan Finlan wrote:

> I think Paul knew there would be a double resonance
> among his readers whenever he used the "slave"
> metaphor: the literary-religious image of slavery
> in Egypt, and the image or reality of current or
> recent slave status of many of his Gentile readers.
> The notion of Christ buying one's freedom from social
> slavery, would be just as vivid to a Gentile reader
> as the new-Exodus notion would be for a Jewish reader.

I think that in general, for those who had already heard Paul unpack the
central features of his paideia, this "double resonance" might have
occurred. However, I'm not sure that we have evidence that would suggest
that he could be confident that it would happen when the Romans heard the
metaphor. Therefore, I would argue that the most we can claim is that the
social status of slavery and the power of the slave holder might come to
mind when the Romans heard this portion of the letter.

It would be interesting to approach the question through the interpretive
matrix of Perelman's Universal Audience and value sharing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Hester "Never be afraid to try something new.
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  • slave, Stephen.Finlan, 07/28/2000
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: slave, Eric Potts, 07/29/2000
    • Re: slave, Jim Hester, 07/29/2000
    • Re: slave, Stephen.Finlan, 07/30/2000

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