Table Of Content“WHERE IS THE VOICE COMING FROM?”
QUERYING THE EVIDENCE FOR PAUL’S RHETORICAL EDUCATION
IN 2 CORINTHIANS 10–13
by
Ryan Scott Schellenberg
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology of the University of St. Michael’s College
and the Biblical Department of the Toronto School of Theology
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Theology
awarded by the University of St. Michael’s College
© Ryan S. Schellenberg 2012
“ ‘Where Is the Voice Coming From?’
Querying the Evidence for Paul’s Rhetorical Education in 2 Corinthians 10–13”
Ryan Scott Schellenberg
Doctor of Philosophy in Theology
Biblical Department
University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto
2012
ABSTRACT
Although it would be an exaggeration to speak of a consensus, a majority of scholars
now sees Paul as a man of relatively high social status. Most often cited as evidence for such
status is Paul’s putative education in formal rhetorical theory. The prevailing logic consists of
two propositions: First, Paul’s letters can be analyzed according to the dictates of Greco-
Roman rhetoric; therefore, Paul must have been well educated in rhetoric. Second, rhetorical
education was available only among the wealthy elite; therefore, Paul must have been
brought up in such circles.
A number of scholars have observed that such argumentation fails to consider the
extent to which rhetorical ability exists independently of formal education. But despite this
general observation, there has been no attempt to determine whether the specific rhetorical
competencies to which Paul’s letters attest admit of informal acquisition. In this study, I use
insights from comparative rhetoric and sociolinguistics to get methodological leverage on
this problem and thus to reevaluate the evidence for Paul’s rhetorical education. Using 2 Cor
10–13 as a test case, I demonstrate that Paul’s use of rhetoric provides no evidence of formal
education; on the contrary, his persuasive strategies are instances of informal rhetoric.
After undertaking a history of scholarship in part 1, in part 2 I reassess recent claims
of Paul’s conformity with formal rhetorical conventions in 2 Cor 10–13. Here I demonstrate
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that many alleged parallels derive from misleading treatment of the rhetorical sources and
cannot be sustained. Convincing parallels are few—I isolate four—and rather general;
nevertheless, they do merit further explanation. I seek to provide such explanation in part 3
by offering a basic theory of informal rhetoric and its acquisition, and demonstrating the use,
by speakers with no knowledge of formal rhetorical theory, of precisely those rhetorical
features found both in Paul and in the ancient rhetorical sources. Finally, in part 4, I begin a
redescription of Paul’s persuasive voice: Paul’s prose style, his self-description in
2 Cor 10:10 and 11:6, and his “foolish boasting” reveal him to be a speaker at once abject
and defiant.
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What governs the inflections that make any utterance unmistakably the words of one
speaker in this whole language-saturated world?
—Marilynne Robinson, Absence of Mind
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful, first, to Leif Vaage, my adviser, whose contribution to this project has
been manifold. I have benefited from his insightful questions and incisive criticism, yes, but
also his consistent support and his enthusiasm for this study. And, although I owe him a
substantial intellectual debt, I am grateful too for his commitment to helping me cultivate my
own academic voice.
I count it a privilege to have had the opportunity to study in the rich and diverse
environment of the Toronto School of Theology. Two teachers and mentors deserve special
thanks for making particularly significant contributions to my development as a scholar: John
Kloppenborg has both taught and modeled consistent excellence in scholarship as in
collegiality. And Colleen Shantz, my teaching supervisor, has been far more generous with
her help and support than I have had any right to expect.
The opportunity it provides for meaningful conversation across disciplinary
boundaries is one of the many benefits of studying at the University of Toronto. I am grateful
to students and faculty at the Centre and Department for the Study of Religion as well as the
Department of Classics for a warm reception and for engaging dialogue. Thanks especially to
Professors Andreas Bendlin and Catherine Rubincam.
Dr. Glenn Holland was gracious enough to comment on an early draft of chapter 9,
and thereby saved me from a number of errors.
This research was supported by a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Finally, thanks to Susan, who has been encouraging always, and always ready to
celebrate milestones along the way.
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ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations follow, in order of priority: Patrick H. Alexander et al., eds., The SBL
Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical and Early Christian Studies
(Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1999); L’Année philologique on the Internet,
http://www.annee-philologique.com (accessed July 14, 2011); Simon Hornblower and
Anthony Spawforth, The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed. rev. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2003). Exceptions and additional abbreviations are provided below.
ESEC Emory Studies in Early Christianity
HTKNTSup Herders theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament Supplementband
LNTS Library of New Testament Studies
PaSt Pauline Studies
Colloquy Protocol of the Colloquy of the Center for Hermeneutical Studies in
Hellenistic and Modern Culture
RG Rhetores Graeci. Edited by Leonhard von Spengel. 3 vols. Bibliotheca
scriptorum graecorum et romanorum teubneriana. Leipzig: Teubner, 1854–
1885.
SGLG Sammlung grieschischer und lateinsicher Grammatiker
SNTW Studies of the New Testament and Its World
SSCFL Studies in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Language
TCH Transformation of the Classical Heritage
UTB Uni-Taschenbüch für Wissenschaft
WGRW Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Greco-Roman World
WGRWSup Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Greco-Roman World
Supplement Series
ZKNT Zahn-Kommentar zum Neuen Testament
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1
PART I: A HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION ................................................................ 17
Chapter 1: Rhetoric of the Heart ........................................................................................... 18
“No Mere Tentmaker” 19
“Kein Klassiker, kein Hellenist hat so geschrieben” 22
Chapter 2: Paul, the Educated Rhetor .................................................................................... 27
Soundings: E. A. Judge 28
The Rise of Rhetorical Criticism: Hans Dieter Betz and George A. Kennedy 31
“Comparison, Self-Praise, and Irony”: Christopher Forbes 34
A Developing Consensus (I): Martin, Murphy-O’Connor, and Witherington 36
A Developing Consensus (II): Jerome H. Neyrey and Ronald F. Hock 39
Paul and the Diatribe: Stanley K. Stowers 44
Paulus und das antike Schulwesen: Tor Vegge 46
Paul’s Rhetorical Terminology: Carl Joachim Classen 54
Dissenting Voices: Justin J. Meggitt and R. Dean Anderson 69
Conclusion 72
PART II: QUERYING RHETORICAL CRITICISM OF 2 CORINTHIANS 10–13 .......... 74
Chapter 3: A Historical and Literary Introduction ................................................................ 75
Second Corinthians 10–13 and Recent Evaluations of Paul’s Rhetoric 75
Excursus: “Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation” ................................................ 79
The “Letter of Tears” 88
Paul and the Corinthians 90
Putative Evidence of Rhetorical Education in 2 Corinthians 10–13 99
Chapter 4: Forensic Rhetoric, Epistolary Types, and Rhetorical Education ....................... 101
Forensic Rhetoric and the Disposition of 2 Corinthians 10–13 101
Epistolary Theory and Paul’s Rhetorical Education 107
Letter Types in 2 Corinthians 10–13 108
Epistolary and Rhetorical Training in Greco-Roman Antiquity 113
Conclusion 121
Chapter 5: Paul’s (In)appropriate Boasting: Periautologia ................................................. 123
Plutarch, De laude ipsius (Moralia 539A–547F) 125
Boasting by Necessity 130
Self-Defense 131
Misfortune 135
Usefulness; Benefit to Hearers 136
Comparative Boasting 137
Conclusion 142
Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 11.1.15–26 144
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Hesitancy (Prodiorthōsis) 147
Conclusion 149
Chapter 6: Peristasis Catalogues: Rhythm, Amplification, Klangfiguren .......................... 151
Lists and Catalogues in Greco-Roman Antiquity 151
Catalogues, Auxēsis, and Rhetorical Education 164
Conclusion 167
Chapter 7: Not a Fool, a Fool’s Mask: Narrenrede and Prosōpopoiia ............................... 169
Hans Windisch and Paul’s So-Called Narrenrede 169
Narrenrede, Prosōpopoiia, and Rhetorical Education 172
Conclusion 177
Chapter 8: Synkrisis in Corinth ............................................................................................ 178
Sophistry in Corinth 180
sugkri/nw and Rhetoric 187
Paul’s Comparison in 2 Corinthians 11:21b–23 189
Chapter 9: Not a Fool, It’s (Only) Irony .............................................................................. 199
Glenn Holland’s Boastful Ironist 200
Disclaiming Boastfulness 205
Conclusion 210
PART III: RHETORIC AS INFORMAL SOCIAL PRACTICE ......................................... 213
Chapter 10: Toward a Theory of General Rhetoric ............................................................... 214
A Theory of General Rhetoric 215
Rhetoric in the New World 222
Excursus: Methodological Reflections on Comparison ............................................ 227
Chapter 11: Other Voices ...................................................................................................... 230
Red Jacket’s Self-Defensive Boasting 231
Sagoyewatha, or Red Jacket 232
Red Jacket’s Periautologia 236
Conclusion 242
Informal Prodiorthōsis 243
Anticipating Social Constraints 244
“You must not think hard if we speak rash” 248
“Feigned Reluctance”? 250
Prosōpopoiia and the Use of Interlocutors’ Voices 255
Prosōpopoiia in 2 Corinthians 10–13 258
“The Tree of Friendship” 260
The Ubiquity of Catalogue-Style 263
Conclusion 271
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Chapter 12: The Acquisition of Informal Rhetorical Knowledge ......................................... 274
The Nature of Language Socialization 274
An Analogy: The Singer of Tales 276
Mexicano Rhetorical “Education” 278
Conclusion 282
PART IV: “WHERE IS THE VOICE COMING FROM?” ................................................. 286
Chapter 13: i0diw&thj tw~| lo/gw |............................................................................................ 287
Untempered Vigour 289
Epistolary Style: A Red Herring 291
to\ e0n lo/gw| i0diwtiko\n tou= 0Aposto/lou 293
“Confused and Insufficiently Explicit” 297
2 Corinthians 10:10; 11:6 310
“His Letters are Forceful and Bold” 310
“Boorish in Speech” 320
Envy and Foolishness: The Social Locations of Self-Praise 329
Boasting in Weakness 341
CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 346
Toward a Reading of 2 Corinthians 10–13 348
“Where Is the Voice Coming From?” 351
Voice, Habitus, and the Individual Speaker 354
A Weak Apostle in Corinth 358
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 363
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INTRODUCTION
A century ago now, Adolf Deissmann observed, “The older study of Paul with its
one-sided interest in its bloodless, timeless paragraphs of the ‘Doctrine’ or the ‘Theology’ of
Paul did not trouble itself about the problem of the social class of Paul.”1 Since that time,
social-scientific methods have become standard fare in the guild, and study of the social
history of early Christianity has proliferated: we have Malina and we have Meeks;2 we have
the Context Group; we cite the likes of Geertz, Bourdieu, and Mary Douglas. So what have
we done with Paul?
In one sense, we have made significant progress. Recent studies of 1 Thessalonians
and especially the Corinthian correspondence have highlighted the specific social and
religious contexts addressed by Paul in each instance.3 Paul’s letters, such research
emphasizes, are not disinterested theology; they represent instead his rhetorical engagement
of particular social realities. Indeed, the last decade or two of Pauline scholarship generally
could be characterized as the study of Paul’s rhetoric in its social context.
But in one key respect it appears we are right where Deissmann left us: We have not
sufficiently troubled ourselves about the problem of Paul’s “social class”—or, to use
language with less ideological baggage, Paul’s place in ancient society. That is, although
1 Adolf Deissmann, Paul: A Study in Social and Religious History, trans. William E. Wilson (New
York: Harper & Row, 1957), 47; first published as Paulus: Eine kultur- und religionsgeschichtliche Skizze
(Tübingen: Mohr, 1911).
2 Bruce J. Malina, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology, 3rd ed.
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001); Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of
the Apostle Paul (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983).
3 On Thessalonians, see esp. Richard S. Ascough, “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a
Professional Voluntary Association,” JBL 119 (2000): 311–28; Ascough, Paul’s Macedonian Associations: The
Social Context of Philippians and 1 Thessalonians, WUNT 2/161 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003). On
Corinthians: Gerd Theissen, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth, trans. John H.
Schütz, SNTW (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1982); Dale B. Martin, The Corinthian Body (New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1995); Edward Adams and David G. Horrell, eds., Christianity at Corinth: The Quest for the
Pauline Church (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2004).
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