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  • From: Jim Hester <hester AT jasper.uor.edu>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Autonomasia
  • Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 10:10:39 -0700


Mark Nanos wrote:

[snip]
> I do not understand what the ritual act of circumcision represents
> in Galatians apart from completing proselyte conversion, however. Do you?

Mark!

I can't think of any other reasonable understanding of the act in the
context of the argument of Galatians either. However, knowing that you have
written about Paul and proselyte conversion, I offer with timidity, an
observation.

I think Paul gets blindsided by his own argument. If you take the extended
metaphor of the olive tree in Romans 11:13-24 as illustrative of his
teaching about the relationship of Gentile Christians to Judaism, then, if I
am a Jewish Christian, it seems to me reasonable to assume that Paul is
teaching that the Gentiles are included in the Covenant, the "rich root" of
Judaism. Since the sign of the Covenant is circumcision, then it seems to
follow that Gentile Christians should be circumcised. I think I would have
the right to argue that in arguing for circumcision I am simply following
Paul's argument to its natural conclusion. However, now that I am, in
Bormann's words, chaining out the argument in that fashion, I hear from Paul
that I am not only mistaken but subversive of the Gospel! I hear that
circumcision is a component in "works of the law," which subverts
justification by faith. It is that hermeneutical outcome that leads me to
assert that the olive tree metaphor (i.e., the teaching it illustrates)
doesn't work! It is both convoluted and misleading! And it causes Paul to
have to do battle with his interpreters again and again.

That then takes me back to your point: I don't think that Paul wanted to be
understood as advocating proselyte conversion but that his teaching about
the inclusion of the Gentiles in the promises of the Covenant made it appear
as though he did. As a result, in his congregations hermeneutics are the

engines of rhetorical situations, again, a self-evident observation on my
part! (BTW, if you haven't already -- and here I am addressing primarily
other members of the list -- you might want to take a look at Kathy Eden's
Hermeneutics and the Rhetorical Tradition.)

As always, forgive me if I have made too many leaps in logic!

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