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  • From: "David C. Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: How did Paul take the collection to Jerusalem?
  • Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 13:43:48 -0500


Peter Head says:

>>AxB/CxDxE = COLLECTION

Where:
A = the number of contributing (Pauline?) churches (not necessarily
ethnically Gentile, but associated with the Pauline mission).
B = the number of "members" in each church
C= the proportion of members who could/would contribute
D= the average amount of each contribution
E= the number of weekly contributions collected.

Now, Let's say A= 10; B=50; C= 1/2; D = 1 assarion, E =50

COLLECTION = 12,500 Assarions = 31 gold coins per year of collection<<

Hello Prof Head,

A couple questions came to mind.

RE: A = 10. A minimum number, wouldn't you think? This is about the
number of congregations mentioned in the surviving epistles, I
believe.

RE: B = 50. Depends on whether these are from house churches or
synagogues, or represent only gentiles or also includes Jews.

RE: C = 1/2. This will depend on the function such a collection
served. If Paul's collections served the purpose of validating the
association of his gentile friends with Judaism by means of getting
their offerings accepted by the authorities (or an authority) on the
same basis as those accepted from Jews, then a token offering would be
necessary from all of them individually. This then relates to D below.

RE: D = 1 As. Why a single "as" per week? Being 1/16 of a denarius,
which in turn is commonly thought to be a days wage (and they are
working at least 6 days a week), it seems like a mighty small
"offering." Are you basing this on some example of a common city
family setting such an amount aside over the course of a week?

Our assumptions will significantly affect the number of gold coins
Paul will expected to be carrying. I am assuming that the function of
the collection was as I described above. If so, I would have to ask
myself what was the standard that was expected (or realized) of
Diaspora Jews making offerings over the course of a year? Doesn't E.
P. Sanders have something about this in one of his books? Or was that
the revised Schurer? A per capita amount could be approximated by
dividing the amount of money confiscated (in one of the accounts
mentioned in an earlier post) by the estimated number of Jews in the
region from which the contribution was collected.

If we are talking about token sums, then how could tentmaker Paul
afford to travel about the Mediterranean, particularly the ship
transportation? If he makes use of a certain portion of the
contribution to offset travel expenses, which I believe is assumed to
have been the case with apostles of the patriarchate in later times, a
fair sum might be necessary. Also, if he is trying to gain official
Jewish recognition for his gentile friends, then he might need to
dangle a pretty large carrot before the authorities. "Show me a sign
then G-d has blessed you, Paul." "Look, then, at how much these have
given for the (Jewish) poor!"

Regards,

Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA






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