Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - RE: Galatian situation

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "moon-ryul jung" <moon AT saint.soongsil.ac.kr>
  • To: corpus-paul
  • Subject: RE: Galatian situation
  • Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 15:3:45



Both views on Gal 4:8-10 have been well summarized in this thread.

The Traditional View:
> in Gal 4:8-10 Paul polemically equates Jewish
> >observances with pagan observances as part of the argumentative strategy of
> >the letter.

The New one by Mark Nanos:

> Thus the concern in the letter to call the addressees to resist the
> pressure to conform with prevailing norms as though they were pagans
> (4:8-10; 5:1), and to resist the pressure to conform with prevailing
> norms for leaving behind pagan life to become righteous ones by
> initiating participation in the ritual process of becoming proselytes
> (e.g., 3:1-5; 5:2-6). The point Paul wants to re-iterate without
> allowing any compromising solution to still stand is that they must
> not accept either side of this solution.

As a response, Peter argued as follows:

> Martin's argument re Gal 4.10 (NTS 42 (1996), 105ff) is not perhaps as
> persuasive as previous contributors have suggested.
>
> He himself affirms only that the time-keeping terms in 4.10 are compatible
> with either Judaism or paganism; and that 'only the context can determine
> the issue'.
> But in dealing with the context he dismisses altogether too casually the
> link which _stoicheia_ establishes between 4.9 and 4.3 (and hence the whole
> previous section). Clearly Paul is linking the proposed action (polemically
> and ironically) with a return to national deities; but this seems entirely
> compatible with the "traditional" view.
>

I also agree that the link that both occurrences of stoicheia establishes
should be seriously considered. Moreover, if Paul discusses here
the issue of returing to paganism, it is too abrupt and the reader is
totally
unprepared for this issue. Paul wanted to make what getting circumcised
would really mean, by linking to to the thing that Galatians believe is
clearly wrong, which is returning to paganism. This interpretation fits to
the whole
context of Galatians better.


Moon
Associate Professor
Dept of Digital Media
Sogang Univ, Seoul, Korea





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page