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  • From: "Elli Elliott" <elli AT kci.net>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Jewish origins of apostle
  • Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 14:49:55 -0700


First of all, let me apologize to any of you who picked up the badtrans worm
from me last week. It was a project to rid my computer of it, and I hope
others have not had the same experience. It was a clever little sucker and
fooled me with

On your questions about the "Jewish origins of apostleship" -- Why assume
that the origins are Jewish? What about the missionary activity of
other cults and contexts? Have you considered the Imperial cult or other
"pagan" cults? Have you considered basic political language and the
language of social relationships in that context?

To understand Paul in his context, we certainly have to look beyond the
Jewish context. Even the Jewish context was not in some hermetically sealed
container. Jews also spoke and thought in the broader context of their
time. Perhaps you need to turn over some other stones in your search.

My research on this issue is not extensive, but my impression is that the
evidence for what we might call missionary activity and initiative is not
particularly strong for Judaism. The ascendancy of the Imperial cult in the
first century gives a much stronger probable relevant background for
understanding missionary initiative, imho. Perhaps others with more depth
of familiarity with the Imperial cult can offer some better clues.

Elli





Elli Elliott
(The Rev. Dr. Susan M. Elliott)

Pastor, Zion United Church of Christ, Sterling, Colorado
and Immanuel Congregational United Church of Christ, Brush, Colorado
PhD, New Testament & Early Christianity, Loyola University Chicago

Church e-mail: ZionImmanuelUCC AT hotmail.com
Personal e-mail: elli AT kci.net
----- Original Message -----
From: <Frich107 AT aol.com>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 1:53 AM
Subject: [corpus-paul] Jewish origins of apostle


> Dear List-members,
>
> As I have said a few months ago am I researching Paul's apostleship,
> particularly in terms of how he exercises power or authority through this,

> using rhetorical criticism and socio-scientific methodology, all against
the
> background of the New Perspective. As part of my early research I have
been
> trying, rather unsuccessfully I have to say, to locate apostleship in a
> Jewish context. The only suggestion that I have uncovered is one suggested
> originally by Lightfoot in his commentary on Galatians, and then furthered
by
> the work of K. H. Rendtorf.
>
> They suggest that apostle may be an equivalent, or even translation, of
the
> Hebrew 'saliah', meaning ambassador, or something of the like. However,
the
> evidence for this is found no earlier than the Mishnah, which for me is a
> problem as I am not confident of dating this any earlier than Second
Century
> CE. What I'm really wondering is whether anyone is aware of earlier
> references to 'saliah', or alternative suggestions for fitting apostle
into a
> Jewish context.
>
> I have also been considering whether there is any way of suggesting that a
> missionary (lit. one sent) could be understood to be Jewish in a Diaspora
> setting. Again my research is giving me little joy on this idea. The only
> other idea I have had, and it's really quite a stab in the dark, is that
> apostleship is a development of the prophetic ministry found in large
> sections of the Hebrew Bible. Again I am aware of the problems of this,
> especially considering how Paul himself describes apostleship in his
letters.
> My interest is to particularly understand Paul's apostleship, and his
> understanding of the office, over against apostleship in general in the
NT.
>
> Regards,
> Fred Rich.
>
> Ph.D. student, University of Sheffield.
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to corpus-paul as: elli AT kci.net
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