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  • From: Jonathan Ryder <jpr1001 AT cam.ac.uk>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Paul's use of early Christian formula
  • Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 18:10:25 +0100


I've noticed increasingly that whenever scholars encounter an
'infrequent' Pauline word or concept they are quick to detect an early
Christian formula, often baptismal. This tendency ISTM is similar to the
discarding of certain epistles as authentic Paul due to the presence of
vocabulary, ideas and theology (all of which overlap of course) assumed
as rare in Paul.

Both exegetical steps are, I presume, built on the same (dubious?)
methodological assumption that one can reconstruct Paul's theology and
his (theological) vocabulary.

While not wishing to (re)open the second can of worms, I would like to
pose some questions re the first.

First 2 brief examples:

EXELHTAI in Gal 1:4 (Dunn Galatians?)
AXIWS in 1 Thess 2:12 and elsewhere (Donfried: Kingdom of God in Paul in
Willis ed, Kingdom of God in 20th Century Interpretation p182)

Some Questions

1. Does anyone know who was the first to take this exegetical step (ie
rare word = pre-Pauline formula)? References would be useful

2. Has anyone made a significant study of this phenomenon (ie early
Christian tradns in Paul)? I'm particxularly interested in
methodological discussion as well as the existence of an exhaustive
list.

3. Has anyone done a serious (methodological) critique of this tendency?

Thanks in advance.

Jonathan Ryder
Cambridge
UK

PS Hope this is the sort of enquiry that your friends might have wanted
to see, Jeffrey. Hope also it provokes some discussion.





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