Corpus-Paul

["Michael T. MacDonell" <sendero AT pcsinter.net>]

At 02:53 AM 1/7/01, Mark D. Nanos wrote:

> Loren Rossen replied:
> > Paul simply mentions in Gal. 1:22 that he was unknown
> > ?by sight? in Judea. After being away for three years,
> > this isn?t so strange. As a former Peace Corps
> > volunteer, who saw ex-volunteers come and go in a host
> > country, re-visiting years later, etc, I can say there
> > is nothing ?inconceivable? about what you object to
> > here.
>
> I too was struck by the failure of logic behind such a strong assertion for
> the implications of Gal. 1:22. Whether Paul did or did not persecute in
> Judea or as told by Luke, this would not be proven or disproved by reference
> to Gal. 1:22.

Loren, your analogy is extremely weak.  Paul as persecutor of Christians in 
Judea would hardly be as anonymous a subject passing in a crowd as an 
ex-peace corps volunteer.  And I believe that a statement like "And I was 
still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea" provides a 
reasonably strong piece of evidence that Luke's portrayal of Paul as 
persecutor may not be accurate. Why do we accept Paul's characterization by 
Luke with such confidence?  Could we NOT expect some corroboration from 
Paul of his past villany if it were true?  It isn't as if Paul hesitated to 
criticize himself.

There is no reason why not to pursue Bornkamm's line of reasoning and see 
where it takes us.  Given, for the moment, that Paul was not the persecutor 
Luke made him out to be, why might Luke have portrayed him as such?  I 
don't have a clear answer to that one, either, but I am not willing to 
dismiss the possibility that Paul was ill-portrayed by Luke just on the 
assumption that Luke was telling it straight.

Best Regards,
Mike
___________________________________________
Michael T. MacDonell, Ph.D.
Ransom Hill Bioscience, Inc.
1130 D Street, Ramona, CA 92065
___________________________________________
Dieu mésure le froid à la brebis tondue.
H. Estienne (1594) Les Prémices, etc. p. 47
___________________________________________