Corpus-Paul

[Steve Black <sblack AT axionet.com>]

> The giving of new names to important figures in the early church 
> seems to have been quite a phenomenon. Here are some 
> references:[snip]


> ...my point is this: taking of new names was very common among the 
> leaders of the early church and it seems to have been a recognition 
> of the importance of the recipient in the growth or maintenance of 
> the Christian community. Now, Luke is comfortable in recognizing the 
> virtue of Joseph-Barnabas and his missionary success (e.g. 
> 11:22-24), so he has no problem in writing about his naming (4:36), 
> which was a recognition of his important role. But after Barnabas 
> falls out of the picture, Luke focuses almost exclusively on Paul, 
> who is the great hero of the narative. It is for this reason, I 
> suggest, that Luke does not give accounts of the giving of new names 
> to any of Paul's companions. His interest is in presenting Paul as 
> the great church builder, and he does not want this message to be 
> confused by giving too much recognition to other individuals.
>
> This explains why Luke does not tell us that Crispus was given the 
> name 'Sosthenes', or that Titus adopted the new name 'Timothy'.

As attractive as your theory is, I am not persuaded that we have in 
it a "necessary" reading. It does have the advantage of tidying up 
things a bit, but I think this is not grounds for deeming it true. I 
think we need to be aware of "the fallacy of plausibility". Because 
something is plausible does not mean that something is therefore 
true! I think the best I can say of your proposition is that it is a 
workable model, to move beyond this I would like to see some 
collaborating evidence. I have not read your article on Timothy/Titus 
theory, and will not be able to get to it for at least several days. 
If in it you have more "evidence" could perhaps summarize it for us 
on the list? Thanks

[big snip]
--
Steve Black
Vancouver School of Theology
Vancouver, BC
---

Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places if you look at it right...

-Robert Hunter From SCARLET BEGONIAS