Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

corpus-paul - Re: [Corpus-Paul] Partition theories

corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Corpus-Paul

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Jeff Peterson <peterson AT austingrad.edu>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Partition theories
  • Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 10:37:55 -0500

On Wednesday, October 22, 2003, at 09:01 AM, Edgar Krentz wrote:
I find the argument that there is no manuscript evidence ambiguous. The earliest manuscript of Paul, Papyrus 46. is written about 150+ years after the Pauline letters. That is as long a time back then as it is now, as far from Paul as we are from the Civil War. While it has some force, it may not be as compelling as you think.

It seems to me the question of method here is how to move from what is possible to what is probable. A century and a half certainly leaves room for editing, and the MSS attest that some took place in the transmission of the Pauline corpus (e.g., the omission of EN RWMH(I) from Rom 1:7, traceable to the 3d or 4th century; the 4th/5th century absence of Rom 16:25-27). So there should be no question that partition theories are possible and deserve a hearing.

On the other hand, the absence of any MS evidence for (e.g.) an edition of 2 Cor lacking chaps. 10–13 seems to coun against the probability of this specific proposal; it's difficult to imagine that an earlier edition of the letter would have left no trace at all in the MS tradition, and if it did it's almost unimaginable that (say) Origen wouldn't have commented on it. This doesn't render the critical consensus on 2 Cor impossible, but it does mean that very strong evidence for the presence of a seam between chaps. 9 and 10 is needed to establish it. Scholars inclined to support the consensus are obliged to engage very closely epistolographic and rhetorical analyses of 2 Cor and other letters where partition has been proposed.

Best,

Jeff Peterson


Jeffrey Peterson
Associate Professor of New Testament
Austin Graduate School of Theology
Austin, Texas





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page