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  • From: Anders Eriksson <anders.eriksson AT teol.lu.se>
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re:Opponents as Strawmen
  • Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 10:38:57 +0200


Dear Mark, Ron and Dieter

Mark,

By using the convential label "opponents" I do not thereby mean that they
oppose Paul. We agree that it might be Paul who opposes them.

As to "Strawmen" I do believe that they are not "just" strawmen, not free
invention. But the picture of them given by Paul is a caricature, agreeing
with Ron.

The interesting thing with my analogy from Aphthonius is that the aspiring
rhetor was taught how to portray those taking the counterposition, whether
they were real or not, in a conventional fashion, relying on standard
topics of for example vilification (as pointed out by Dieter). This
anciant mode of constructing a discourse makes it extremely difficult to
ascertain at what points the discourse actually describes the real problem
and where it creates a "phantom".

I think those of us in this discussion are willing to try to move from the
implied situation in the text to the real historical situation behind the
text. But the rhetorical nature of Paul's argumentation makes this
extremely difficult. I believe Paul wrote Galatians because there was a
real problem in the church, at least Paul wants to see it that way. But
what that problem was is hard to know.

If you Mark would try for a moment to help me reconstruct the people behind
the counterposition to the thesis "it is good for a man to marry" in
Aphthonius progymnasmata, you might see the problems I refer to.

Anders Eriksson

Dr Anders Eriksson,
Faculty of Theology
Lund University, Sweden






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