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  • From: Tim Harris <tim.harris AT stmatts.asn.au>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Liberating Paul
  • Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:52:49 +1030

Quoting Daniel Grolin <dgrolin AT yahoo.com>:

| I have just started Neil Elliott's "Liberating Paul:
| The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle"
| and on page 27 he argues that 1 Corinthians 14:34-5
| are interpolations. How convincing do you find this?

Daniel, I haven't read Elliott, but there are a variety of arguments that have
been put forward regarding interpolation, some on internal grounds, although
most on the basis of textual considerations. The latter has been explored
extensively - see:

E.Earle Ellis, ‘The Silenced Wives of Corinth (1 Cor. 14:34-35)’, in E.J. Epp
and G.D. Fee (eds.), NT Textual Criticism and Its Significance for Exegesis,
Bruce Metzger FS, Oxford: Clarendon, 1981: 213-220.

Philip B. Payne, ‘Fuldensis, Sigla for Variants in Vaticanus, and 1 Cor. 14:
34-35’, NTS 41 (1995): 240-262.

Curt Niccum, ‘The Voice of the Manuscripts on the Silence of Women: The
External
Evidence for 1 Cor. 14:34-35’, NTS 43 (1997): 242-255.

There is also extensive treatment in A.C. Wire, The Corinthian women prophets:
a
reconstruction through Paul's rhetoric. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990, and
good appraisal is found in Thiselton's NIGNT commentary.

My own view is that Niccum's argument is fairly convincing - that there is no
real textual basis for the interpolation argument. Hopwever, Earle Ellis'
suggestion that the verses were originally a marginal note added by Paul and
subsequently copied at various points into the text is plausible, although
will
always remain speculative.

I would explore the passage more in socio-cultural terms, especially as the
verses in question address recognised philosophical topoi in terms strongly
reflective of passages in Plutarch (Advice to Bride & Groom, 31-2) and Livy
(34.2.9, recreating a speech of M. Porcius Cato).

Cheers,
Tim Harris


Dr. Tim Harris
Senior Minister
Kensington-Norwood Anglican Ministry Team
PO Box 56, Kensington Park
South Australia, 5068





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