Corpus-Paul

["Frank W. Hughes" <fwhughes AT sunbeach.net>]

I hope to be forgiven if I refer you to my articles, including "The Rhetoric
of Letters" and "The Social Situations Implied by Rhetoric," in The Thessalonians
Debate, edited by Karl P. Donfried (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000).  The
Form and Function of the Pauline Thanksgivings (BZNW 20; Berlin: Töpelmann,
1939) by Paul Schubert continues to be fundamental.

Also important and too frequently overlooked is Hermann Peter, Der Brief
in der römischen Literatur (Abhandlungen der Königlichen Sächsischen
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, philologisch-historische Classe, 20/3; Leipzig:
B. G. Teubner, 1901; reprinted Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1965).  Peter argued
that official letters were seen in Greek tradition as substitutes for or
representations of public speeches ("letter and speech were looked upon as
belonging together," Peter, 14), and thus teaching about letters was a natural
part of Graeco-Roman education, particularly within rhetorical schools.  Peter
argued that the systematic rules taught in rhetorical schools had a powerful
influence on all kinds of speeches and also letters (Peter, 19).  See also
Jonathan A. Goldstein, The Letters of Demosthenes (New York &
London: Columbia University Press, 1968).

Frank W. Hughes
Lecturer in New Testament
Codrington College
St. John J6
Barbados, West Indies