Corpus-Paul

[Richard Fellows <rfellows AT shaw.ca>]

In his letter to Polycarp, Ignatius abruptly shifts his audience. The first
part of the letter is directed at Polycarp, but at 6 he suddenly turns to
the Smyrnaean Christians as a whole. It seems to me that Paul might be doing
something similar in 2 Corinthians. 2 Cor 10-13 might be directed at a
different city within Achaia, or at a different group within Corinth.

Many have suggested that 2 Cor was originally two or more letters, but do we
have precedents for the joining together of two letters in the ancient
world? This is an important question, and was raised by Vince last month. I
am surprised that the major commentaries on 2 Corinthians do not address
this question. Partition theories for 2 Cor (and Phil) are surely
sustainable only if the practice of combining letters can be shown to have
been common, or at least attested. Could someone point us towards some
possible precedents for the sort of editorial practice that many believe
resulted in 2 Cor?

Thanks,

Richard Fellows.

Vince Endris wrote:
> I have read the partition theories of 1 and 2 Corinthians and Philippians.
> Some of these are very convincing.  My question is not on any specific
> theory, but on partition theories in general.  Do we have any evidence,
> besides that some people think it would just make a lot of sense, that
this
> actually happened in historical documents?  Any historical documents?