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  • From: "cfjacks" <cfjacks AT attbi.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re:Why were Gentiles attracted to Christianity?
  • Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2002 15:37:42 -0400


Jeffrey,

You quoted me as saying (in response to John Dickson' posting):


>> the intended thrust of my posting seems at least to me to
be
>> saying the same thing, the necessity of seeing just such
"god-
>> fearing gentiles" (or whatever they might have in fact
been
>> called) as the ones prepared to hear and to accept Paul's
>> kerygma and thus constituting the kind of gentiles we
find in
>> Paul's congregations, at least at first.

Upon which you commented the following:

> The problem with this -- if I am reading you correctly -- is that
in at least two of
> Paul's letters (1 Thess and Gal) there is **no** indication that
his converts had any
> association with the/a synagogue before Paul preached to them. 1
Thess 1:9 (as well as
> -- to my knowledge -- a lack of any archeological evidence that
there was a synagogue
> in Thessalonika) indicates that members of the Thessalonican
congregation did not turn
> from worshipping idols **until** they heard Paul -- a description
hardly befitting the
> (mind you) Lukan definition of God fearers. And the same can be
said, I think for the
> Galatian converts.

It is difficult for me to say much at all about your opinion about the
content of the letter of Galatia since you cite no passage ... unless your
point was that you are not aware of any passage which positively requires us
to understand that those to whom Paul was writing had been previously
"god-fearers" who had attended synagogal services; if this is in fact your
point, then you may well be correct although I do not see how that proves
much of anything one way or the other on this issue.

Of course you citing I Thess. 1:9 is germane and does raise legitimate
questions about my thesis and truth to tell I still don't know quite what to
make of this, even after having "worrying over" it for a numbr of years now.
But is this sufficient to disprove the general thesis or just in its
application to this one location?

I am unclear about the relevance that there has as yet been found no
meeting-building for the local Jewish community; this is most likely true
but do we limit the existence of a significant
Jewish community only to those locales where they had erected such a
building? After all, to meet as a synagogue all that was needed was simply
a "minyam" of ten adult male Jews - a building while nice is hardly a
necessity. Likewise, would you question the existence of the
Christian community existing in Thessalonika or anywhere else of the basis
that no "church-
building" has been found? I doubt that, so what is your point in the above
quotation? Perhaps there is something I am missing which you can clarify?

So where does this leave us? Thus far you have cited one verse in one
letter which admittedly
goes against the hypothesis I was offering, one which just might put in
question my description
of the kind of gentiles found in one of Paul's predominantly gentile (?)
congregations and ...?
>From this what would you have us infer? I am unclear here.

Looking forward to your clarification,

Most cordially,

Clive

(still happily retired back home in metropolitan Atlanta)





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