Rethinking Paul's Rhetorical Education: Comparative Rhetoric and 2 Corinthians 10-13 (Early Christianity and Its Literature) (Society of Biblical Literature (Numbered)) - Hardcover

Ryan S. Schellenberg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1589837819 ISBN 13: 9781589837812

Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013

Synopsis

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 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.

About this title

About the Author

Ryan S. Schellenberg is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Fresno Pacific University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1589837819
• ISBN 13: 9781589837812
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 422