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  • From: "Jim Hester" <hester AT jasper.uor.edu>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Romans 1
  • Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 12:27:55 -0800


Edgar!

You wrote:

> Paul Schubert has a major monograph on the Thanksgivings in Paul's
> letters.

I looked at that some years back during the days of the Paul Seminar and
have since worked my way through most of the major literature on
epistolography. I realize the thanksgiving can serve a number of functions;
I chose to focus on one for the purposes of the discussion.

> I find the exigence in the Jew/Gentile division, alluded to in
> Romans 1:14-17, expanded on first negatively, then positively in 1:18-3:31,
> returned to in Romans 9-11, and underlying the division with which Paul
> deals in Romans 12:15 [strong and weak], divided attitudes to the Roman
> authorities, etc.

I understand the debate over the divisions and the claims that the
references to "strong" and the "weak" in some ways reflect on them, and at
some level I am not really arguing against that analysis. My point is that
Paul is in no real position to do anything about them until he becomes part
of the Roman community; his claim to be apostle to the Gentiles is
interesting but largely irrelevant to the Romans until they can be convinced
that he shares in their rhetorical vision. The letter was designed to do
that.

> what light does that shed on the phrase "obedience of
> faith" in Rom 1:5 and how does the thanksgiving prepare for it.

I am still working on that and don't have a good response to your question.
However, I will venture one thing, and I am not tell you anything that you
don't already know! Rhetorically Paul's apocalyptic world view has a
pragmatic side; I am tending to come down on the side of those who
understand the genitive "of faith" to be translated something like,
"obedience which is empowered by faith." That motif is powerfully expressed
in the Thessalonian correspondence and I believe is elaborated in Romans.
The spiritual gift in 1:11 may well be the pragmatic expression of faith.
It appears to be that in Galatians 5:22 and following, e.g.

Again, thanks for raising the issues!

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Hester "Never be afraid to try something new.
736 Buckingham Drive Remember, amateurs built the ark.
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(909) 792-0533
hester AT uor.edu http://rhetjournal.uor.edu





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