Rethinking Paul's Rhetorical Education

Download or read book Rethinking Paul's Rhetorical Education written by Ryan S. Schellenberg and published by Society of Biblical Lit. This book was released on 2013-09-03 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies 2015 F. W. Beare Award Did Paul have formal training in Greco-Roman rhetoric, or did he learn what he knew of persuasion informally, as social practice? Pauline scholars recognize the importance of this question both for determining Paul’s social status and for conceptualizing the nature of his letters, but they have been unable to reach a consensus. Using 2 Corinthians 10–13 as a test case, Ryan Schellenberg undertakes a set of comparisons with non-Western speakers—most compellingly, the Seneca orator Red Jacket—to demonstrate that the rhetorical strategies Paul employs in this text are also attested in speakers known to have had no formal training in Greco-Roman rhetoric. Since there are no specific indicators of formal training in the way Paul uses these strategies, their appearance in his letters does not constitute evidence that Paul received formal rhetorical education.