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corpus-paul - RE: voluntary associations/Galatian situation

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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: voluntary associations/Galatian situation
  • Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 11:57:07 -0700 (PDT)



--- "Mark D. Nanos" <nanos AT gvi.net> wrote:

> I now believe Troy has made the case
> for a pagan point
> of reference for the time-keeping scheme Paul
> appeals to in 4:8-10.
> Martin takes this to indicate that the Galatian
> addressees have
> actually turned back to paganism because they have
> been convinced by
> the influencers that Christ-faith also includes the
> need to become
> proselytes, a proposition which the addressees
> reject for themselves,
> and thus they abandon Christ-faith entirely to turn
> back to paganism
> (he believes with the consensus that these
> influencers are
> Christ-believing Jewish people, although I do not).
> I believe that
> this part of Troy's construction is mistaken...

So do I. Paul could never have believed that becoming
a proselyte was equivalent to becoming a pagan. (That
is, unless Hyam Maccoby has been right all along, and
Paul really wasn’t all that Jewish...) For him there
was nothing wrong -- in and of itself -- with becoming
a proselyte (Gal. 5:6; 6:15); what was wrong was
making the process compulsory for Gentiles.

> The point Paul wants to
> re-iterate is
> that they must
> not accept either side of this solution. On the one
> hand, they are no
> longer pagans, and thus should not continue or
return to
> any idolatrous
> practices that others believe they are still obliged
> to observe... And on the other
> hand, they are not
> to see themselves as beginning the process of
> proselyte conversion to
> become righteous ones either... Both
> choices would compromise the meaning of Christ for
> themselves.

It does make sense that Paul would be concerned about
these twin sets of realities in general. The customs
of both paganism and Judaism had crucial bearing on
the lifestyle of his Gentile converts, though in
different ways to be sure. I’m anxious to see more
published about this theory.

Loren Rosson III,
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com

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