Corpus-Paul

["Runar M. Thorsteinsson" <Runar.Thorsteinsson AT teol.lu.se>]

Loren, 

many thanks for your response.
 
You had written, among other things:

> The effectiveness [of Paul's charge in Rom 2.22b] comes by shaming the 
> Judean
group
> while giving face to the Gentiles after the indictment
> of 1:19-2:6: they are not the only ones who will be
> judged by the law. Remember that insults and
> caricatures are legitimate shaming devices in a world
> like the ancient Mediterranean. They don't depend on
> accuracy.

Perhaps. But that does not mean that anyone would be engaged in shaming,
insulting, or caricaturing anyone by any means at all.
 
Insults and caricatures may not depend on "accuracy", as you call it, but I
think that most would agree that, in order to function properly, they must
have at least some real basis - and that goes even for the ancient
Mediterranean. 

(Cf. Paul's other charges in Rom 2.21-22, together with their grounds.)

We have to ask, first, whether we find it likely or not on the basis of our
sources that Paul wanted to shame, insult, and caricature his own kinsmen
(before others); second, if we consider it likely or not that he wanted to
do so in this particular letter; and, third, if and how charging a Jewish
interlocutor with "temple robbery" - a truly ridiculous charge - would have
served such a purpose, viz. to shame, insult or caricature Paul's kinsmen.

My suggestion is that if we are in the slightest doubt when attempting to
answer any of these questions, perhaps we ought to add the question if it in
fact is so dead certain that Paul's interlocutor in Rom 2.17-29 is Jewish.
And though we may at first find this question not only unusual but also
rather silly, perhaps we ought to ask also if there are other factors in the
text which may suggest otherwise?


Best regards,
Runar

-- 
Runar M. Thorsteinsson, Ph.D.

Centre for Theology and Religious Studies
Lund University, Sweden
http://www.teol.lu.se/nt/forskning/thorsteinsson.html