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  • From: "moon-ryul jung" <moon AT saint.soongsil.ac.kr>
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Gal 4:8-10 (To Mark Nanos)
  • Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 20:22:44 -0400


Mark,
your view is presented more clearly. Thanks.
Your distinction between "situational discourse" and "narrative discourse"
is also quite helpful for me to see the forest of the whole letter rather
than
seeing only the trees. About the paragraph in question, you said something
illuminating for me.

[Moon]
> >But could Paul, as a Jew, say that being under the Law by getting
> >circumcised is not different from returing back to the weak and poor
> >stoicheia?
>
[Mark]
> No, except to make an ironic association to undermine their naivete,
> and I admit that this could be at work in some way.
>

Yes, "an ironic association to undermine their naivete"! That is what I
meant to say.

[Moon]
> > Why not especially after he said, "when we [the Jews]
> >were children, we were enslaved under the stoicheia of the world" (4:3)?
> >Moreover, Paul said several things which normal Jews would not even
> >think of to prevent the Galatians from getting into "under the Law"
> >by getting circumcised. For examples,
> >"Now that faith has come, we [the Jews] are no longer under the Law",
> > or "Before this faith came, we [the Jews] were held prisoners by the
> >Law".
> >or "Christ redeemed us [the Jews] from the curse of the Law".
>

[Mark]
> I can imagine other Jewish coalitions believing that the end of ages
> had dawned would say similar things, understanding that these
> statements are qualified, and not absolute, for example, to make a
> point of the equality of inclusion of gentiles, as this group claims
> to be the case at the dawning of the end of the ages.
>

Your concession, that Paul and his colleagues could say these things
without misunderstanding the Law, is also very illuminating.


[Moon]
> >So, whereas I find it quite interesting that Galatians were considering
> >going back to paganism because they were not accepted as full members into
> >the Jewish community, the contextual indicators surround
> >Gal 4:8-10 force me to accept the traditional interpretation.
[Mark]
> I hope you will not decide just yet! You noted at the beginning that
> the meaning I am arguing for at 4:8-10 is too abrupt a change in
> rhetorical direction. But I suggest that it is not. What is
> determinative is the construction of the situation. If the situation
> is as I have suggested, then the previous situational rhetoric of
> 1:6-9 and 3:1-5 is similarly concerned with this contrast. So while
> 4:8 seems a long way into Paul's argument, much of the letter has
> consisted to this point of narrative material that should be
> qualified, and then the closeness of the argument to the situation I
> have proposed can readily be seen. At least I can see it!
>

But Paul's rebuke in 1:6-9 and 3:1-5 had to do with trying to be under the
Law by getting circumcised. Please explain what do you mean by
"1:6-9 and 3:1-5 is similarly concerned with this contrast".


Regards,
Moon

with their
> Regards,
> Mark Nanos




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