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  • From: Jonathan Ryder <jpr1001 AT cam.ac.uk>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Paul's use of early Christian formula
  • Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 09:15:33 +0100


Edgar Krentz wrote:

> >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.
>
> Take a look at GOTTFRIED SCHILLE, FRUEHCHRISTLICHY HYMNEN, for a discussion
> of criteria for isolating early Christian formulae . It goes back at least
> as far as EDUARD NORDEN, AGNOSTOS THEOS (1912).
>
> I wrote an article, "Epideiktik and Hymnody," Biblical Research 40 (1995)
> 50-97, which might give you some help. You will find a rather extensive
> bibliography there.
>
> Vocabulary is only one of a number of criteria for identifying such
> citations.
> >
> >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

Thanks Edgar and others for bibliography - I'll follow this up. Apologies for
the mildly polemical way I phrased my original post. I note most posts focus
on the hymnody aspect. Does the biblio
mentioned for these cover instances where eg catechism/baptismal formulae
rather than hymns are seen?

I am aware that vocab is one of many criteria. Would I be right in saying
that in many cases it is a main criteria? Or to put it another way, if this
criteria were to be dismissed/removed from the
equation, would the case for pre-Pauline formula in many instances still be
convincing? ISTM that arguments from rareness of vocab/ideas/theology are
weak given the size of the corpus. Of course, the
very fact that Paul uses such formulae/hymns etc means that the
vocab/ideas/theology they contain become his vocab/ideas/theology unless
context etc indicatres otherwise ...

Jonathan Ryder
Cambridge
UK





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