Dear Mark (Given),
Glad you're enjoying the conversation, as am
I.
Have I done anything with 1 Cor 14:23-25? Yes,
indeed: on pages 293-302 of my previously mentioned book. Openness to outsiders
was, it seems, a feature of the synagogue celebrations in antiquity (at least at
Alexandria and Antioch and, I assume, elsewhere as well). Pauline congregations
will not have been any less open. The fact that converts were meeting in a
home - probably of a wealthier and therefore more prominent Corinthian - will
not have been a problem since, as I think Jeff pointed out, philosophical
gatherings of various types were known to meet on occasion in homes. I doubt
there was a sign outside the front gate - 'Revival meeting inside'! - and a
simple invitation from believer to unbeliever is easy enough to
imagine.
What may be said about the text in question?
First, that Paul speaks of the presence of
outsiders at public worship suggests that the scenario was not (as far as he was
concerned) out of the ordinary. Furthermore, the argument would lack substance
entirely were the hypotheticals in the text not believable in the minds of
Pauls readers. The high level of social integration already practiced by some
Corinthian believers (1 Cor 8, 10) will have contributed to the ease with which
unbelieving friends and family, curious to know what went on among the
Christians, could enter their gatherings. Secondly, that Paul expected the
potential incorporation of new believers described in 1 Cor 14:23-25 to provide
a motivation for the Corinthians to change their ways (in the practice of
'tongues'), implies that concern for the conversion of outsiders was a shared
assumption among Paul and his converts. Thirdly, Paul clearly believed that the
visitors presence at public worship contained mission possibilities. This is
not to say the prophetic speech of v.24 is in any way directed toward the
outsider. Pauls language describes the would-be-believer simply entering the
gathering while the prophesying is already going on; he merely overhears a
typical utterance aimed at the gathered faithful and is convinced. I'm sure many
of those who attend churches regularly today will know of modern
analogies.
Kind regards,
John
Dr. John P. Dickson Sydney,
Australia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 12:12
PM
Subject: RE: [Corpus-Paul] Re:Judaism: a
missionary religion or just open toconverts?
Hi John and
others,
I'm enjoying
this. I wondered, John, if you did anything with 1 Corinthians 14:23-25
in your study:
23
Suppose that, if the whole congregation were meeting and all of them
speaking in tongues, and some uninitiated people or unbelievers were to come
in, don't you think they would say that you were all raving? 24 But
if you were all prophesying when an unbeliever or someone uninitiated came in,
he would find himself put to the test (elengcho) by all and judged
(anakrino) by all 25 and the secrets of his heart
revealed; and so he would fall down on his face and worship God, declaring
that God is indeed among you. (New
Jerusalem Bible).
I find this
passage fascinating because it conjures up an image for me of prophesying as
being similar to an elengchos ("refutation," as practiced by
Socrates, some the Sophists, et al.), but, be that as it may, how did
unbelievers and the uninitiated get there? Did a believer invite
them? I must say it's fascinating (entertaining?) to think of someone
being invited over to a friend or relative's house for a friendly
little "gathering," only to find him/herself getting "refuted" and
"examined/evaluated," and by ALL no less! Sounds a bit too much
like some of the "revivals" I occasionally witnessed growing up in
the hills . . . (-;
Anyway, is it
possible that believers bringing unbelievers in was not
unusual?
Mark
Mark D. Given
Associate Professor
Department of Religious
Studies
Southwest Missouri State
University
901 S. National Ave.
Springfield, MO 65804
Dear Jeff and others,
Thank you for the 'congratulations' and for the
indication of your eagerness to read my study. I hope you find it
stimulating.
I agree that there is a difference between an
activity done merely to gain respect for the Jewish communities and one
done in the hope that Gentiles would embrace the worship of the Jewish God.
It is evidence of the latter that I was talking about in my previous email.
There is evidence across a surprising range of sources that some Jews of the
period not only were eager for the conversion of Gentiles ('conversion'
understood here simply as a new allegiance to the God of the Jews) but
hoped to effect this through, as I said previously, prayer, good works,
persuasion, public worship and, on occasion, formal proselytic instruction.
Perhaps of more interest to members of this
list is the observation that a similar outlook may be discerned in the
Pauline epistles. While evidence of formal proselytic instruction of
'outsiders' is plentiful in our documents, notice that this evidence does
not relate to congregations generally. Paul, Timothy, Peter, James, et al.,
are said to preach the gospel to outsiders but believers in general are not.
I don't doubt that Paul would have been very happy to see his converts
'evangelising' their neighbours at every opportunity but he does not
appear to have taught them to do so. They are, however, urged to
engage in various supportive activities - or expressions of
'mission-commitment' - such as prayer, financial support, ethical and verbal
apologetic, and the orientation of public worship for the sake of the
outsider. Hence, I suspect that belonging to a Pauline congregation will, in
this respect, have felt a little like belonging to a synagogue in the
Diaspora: while you were conscious that some saw it as their duty
to proclaim the message of salvation to outsiders, generally you hoped
merely to play an auxiliary role in that cause - through prayer,
godly living, church gatherings, and so on.
As an aside, I too agree that 'mission' is not
a very useful term in our discussion since it implies sending/commission.
The problem is, this word is firmly embedded in the
secondary literature: the title of my own book perpetuates
that! But what is an appropriate alternative? 'Proselytising' is
perhaps etymologically more accurate, since it connotes simply the gaining
of adherents, but its pejorative sense in modern English makes it
awkward. 'Evangelism' is limited in its usefulness not only because it
excludes Jewish activities but also because, strictly speaking, it denotes
gospel-telling only. The fact that there isn't an obvious biblical term for
this range of activities (ones oriented toward the inclusion of outsiders)
is instructive in itself. I suspect Paul didn't have a category in his head
that could be labeled 'mission' or whatever - at least, not in relation
to the converts in his congregations. For the apostle, all of these
activities were probably just aspects of the expectation that believers were
to 'do good to all'. 1 Cor 10:31-11:1 appears to move us in that
direction.
Kind regards,
John
John P. Dickson
Sydney, Australia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 9:39
PM
Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Re:
Judaism: a missionary religion or just open toconverts?
Dear John,
The initial question I'd press is what
activities the various kinds of evidence you rightly mention constitute
evidence for. I.e., there's a difference between a religion that welcomes
outsiders when they present themselves on the doorstep (as opposed to
driving them away) and one that actively recruits among outsiders; it's
the difference between most Orthodox and many Evangelical churches in this
neck of the woods. The interesting thing in your summary of evidence is
the motive clauses; it's not my impression that the sources are so clear
that gentile conversion is the motive of the Jewish actions you refer to,
which leaves open the interpretation that e.g. good works were done with a
view to improving gentile perceptions of Judaism, which might have a
number of benefits besides conversion, e.g., averting a contemporary
replay of Nebuchadrezzar or Antiochus Epiphanes.
Congratulations on
the publication of your study. I will look forward to an opportunity to
read it -- sometime after the beginning of the semester!
All
best, Jeff Peterson
On Monday, August 18, 2003, at 01:14 AM,
Bigpond Dial-up wrote:
Dear Cameron and others, Very happy to interact on this
question. My recently published dissertation - if you will forgive
the shameless self-promotion - is substantially devoted to this
question. Actually, it was devoted to the question of Paul's
indebtedness to Jewish traditions about outreach to the Gentiles
(John P. Dickson, Mission-Commitment in Ancient Judaism and in the
Pauline Communities: the shape, extent and background of early Christian
mission, WUNT 2, vol.159, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003). I
believe it is important to distinguish between a 'missionary religion'
(such as Pauline Christianity surely was) and a religion in which one
simply finds evidence of 'mission-commitment' (activities consciously
oriented toward the inclusion of outsiders). Some forms of Judaism in
antiquity certainly fall into this latter category. There is some
evidence of Jewish preachers to Gentiles (akin to Christian
missionaries) in the period, and Goodman and McKnight have by no
means had the last word here. But the more
significant evidence, I believe, is that which indicates a desire
on the part of many Jews of the era to draw Gentiles to the worship of
the true God. That desire was expressed variously through 'prayer' for
the salvation of Gentiles, 'good works' designed to win Gentiles to the
Jewish life, 'verbal persuasion' (as distinct from formal teaching) and
'public worship' in which the synagogue provided a powerful and
self-conscious, albeit indirect, means of winning Gentiles to true
worship. Happy to discuss this theme in detail but I thought I'd
throw out this preliminary response to your question. Kind
regards from Sydney, John Dr. John P. Dickson Sydney,
Australia
----- Original
Message ----- From: Cameron
VanEpps/color> To:
corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org/color> Sent:
Sunday, August 17, 2003 4:50 PM Subject: [Corpus-Paul]
Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?
Dear
Readers,
I have recently read Paula Fredriksen's essay, "Judaism,
Circumcision, and Apocalyptic Hope" in Mark Nanos' new book, The
Galatians debate, and found my mind pricked with many interesting
thoughts. I will only pose one question at a time in the hope that each
will be dealt with fully. My first question, which I never really gave
much thought to, is the idea of Judaism as being a "missionary"
religion. Does it make sense to think that there was such a thing as
outreach based preaching/teaching prior to the great commission? Or is
it more likely that what really happened was teachings or philosophical
debates between a Rabbi and those holding to another theological
application in an open air arena, thus drawing those inclined to
monotheism into the fold. I would love to hear people's thoughts on this
topic.
Cameron P. VanEpps 215 W. Illinois St. Bellingham,
WA 98225 phone: (360) 715-8873 cell: (360)
319-6653
<image.tiff>
_______________________________________________ Corpus-Paul
mailing
list Corpus-Paul AT lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/corpus-paul
_______________________________________________ Corpus-Paul
mailing
list Corpus-Paul AT lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/corpus-paul
Jeffrey
Peterson Austin Graduate School of Theology Austin, Texas
_______________________________________________ Corpus-Paul
mailing
list Corpus-Paul AT lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/corpus-paul
_______________________________________________ Corpus-Paul mailing
list Corpus-Paul AT lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/corpus-paul
|