Corpus-Paul

[Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>]

Mark Goodacre wrote:

> I began wondering how Paul actually
> carried the offering 
> to Jerusalem?...If I remember 
> correctly, Murphy O'Connor (Paul: A Critical
> Life), ever able to 
> use his imagination, suggested that he
> sowed the money into an 
> inner tunic.  Were there no other means
> available in the ancient 
> world for transporting large amounts
> of money around
> the Mediterranean, banks, cheques, IOUs?

If we can trust Luke on the matter: In the end there
were more than enough delegates accompanying Paul to
Judea (Acts 20:4), so that -- as far as I can see --
the transfer of a few purses of gold is no problem at
all. We have Sopater, Aristarchus, and Secundus
representing the Macedonian churches; Gaius and
Timothy carrying for Galatia; Tychicus and Trophimus
for Asia. We don’t have names for Achaian reps, but
it’s safe to assume they went too. And we know that
before all of this, Paul was willing to entrust the
collection to others (I Cor. 16:1-4).
Murphy-O’Connor’s suggestion is creative, but
unnecessary.

I appreciate the attempts of Peter Head and Richard
Fellows to pinpoint numerical estimates, as I have
only begun to consider this for my novel.

Loren Rosson III
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com


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