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  • From: Jill and Dale Walker <jilldale AT rcnchicago.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Jewish origins of apostle
  • Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 00:41:42 -0600


I agree with S. Finlan but not comfortably. There is a difference,
but its description isn't satisfying. There are different social settings at play.
In epideictic rhetoric the speaker and audience share points of
reference and the speech builds on that agreement. Deliberative
and forensic rhetoric require persusion of those who disagree, so
I would expect different types of arguments. Paul's job was to
persuade people who didn't agree with him, so I would expect
different methods between him and the imperial cult. And given his
attempts to turn people to the true God, I would expect him to
reflect the type of preaching common among others who shared
his view, e.g., synagogue preaching.

But is one more intellectual than the other? Much depends on
how you define intellectual. If you privilege philosophical rhetoric,
then OK. But there's a lot of smart thinking behind imperial
messages. And while Paul used typology, the imperial cult used
enormous amounts of imagery and mythology. The belief behind
typology that the past is being reinacted draws close to ideas
connected with Augustan propaganda.

And here's another problem. Dio Chrysostom's 4 Peri basileias
orations and Pliny's Panegyric do in fact have implied deliberative
elements. Just as 1 Cor 13, in the very process of holding up agape
in praise, simultaneously advocates how it ought to be expressed,
so Dio and Pliny set out an agenda for the emperor in the process
of choosing what to hold up for praise. How they do so does in fact
read quite differently than Paul. Audience sympathy certainly does
play a role. (Perikles' great funeral oration doesn't work if its addressing
a non-Athenian audience. And Paul's intellectual style is most apparent
in letters in which his need to persuade is most transparent.) But in addition
to social setting, maybe Paul exhibits more in the way of argument and
reason because he simply isn't as good at the game as Dio or Pliny.

Dale Walker


At 08:46 PM 12/12/01 +0000, you wrote:
>Walker wrote [regarding my question whether there
>is any proclamation at all, in the emperor cult]...
>>  an inscription listing Augustus's
>> virtues, and particularly all the money he gave away, that would
>> be a kind of proclamation.
>> ...panegyric competition...a kind of proclamation.
>
>Excellent points.  I'm getting my money's worth on this
>e-list!  I was partially fishing for information when
>I asked my question, and you've obliged me.
>  So now we have to think about parallels with Paul.  It
>seems to me that Paul uses a little bit of panegyric, but
>much more argument, reasoning, typology than does the
>emperor cult.  Paul's teaching has much more intellectual
>content, and more closely resembles synagogue preaching
>and Stoic preaching, in that he tries to convince his
>hearers with reasons that support his teachings.  I sup-
>pose the emperor cult uses reasons too, "that he built this
>road for us, and increased the grain supply,"but still, I
>see more similar to the other, more intellectual, kinds
>of preaching.
>
>Finlan
>Durham
>
>---
>You are currently subscribed to corpus-paul as: jilldale AT rcnchicago.com
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