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PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

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Oxyrhynchus papyrus 292 (25 CE)<br />

Epistolary introduction Theon, to the honourable Tyrannus: Many<br />

greetings!<br />

Statement of facts [narratio] Herakleides, the one bringing this letter to you,<br />

is my brother.<br />

Thesis statement utilising<br />

language of exhortation<br />

(παρακαλῶ); future<br />

orientation; topos related to<br />

association [exordium]<br />

Conclusion: appeal to<br />

advantage (in terms of<br />

social honour) [conclusio]<br />

Therefore I urge you with all of my power to<br />

bring him into your company. I have also asked<br />

Hermias the brother, via letter, to tell you about<br />

him.<br />

You will be doing me the greatest act of<br />

kindness if you will take note of him.<br />

Epistolary closing Above all, I pray that you might have health, be<br />

free from harm, and do well. Goodbye.<br />

Edgar Krentz describes his own change of position, which seems to be illustrative of a<br />

development in much study of Pauline rhetoric over the last two decades, from narrow<br />

expectations regarding certain conventions of speech rhetoric as a background for<br />

understanding Pauline letter structure, to a broader acknowledgment of Paul’s creative<br />

freedom, allowing him to draw on a variety of rhetorical tools and influences:<br />

I began this paper intending to urge the use of rhetorical analysis in terms of<br />

ancient rhetoric. To my own surprise, I ended by taking an ambiguous stance,<br />

recognizing the great value of Aristotle’s discussion of proofs for analysis of<br />

Paul’s letters, wishing that I had had more time to work through the topoi he<br />

listed and to evaluate the use of ornamentation and figures of thought, but quite<br />

disenchanted with the value of analysing the structure of 1 Thessalonians<br />

rhetorically. I did not find any advance over nonrhetorical analysis, and as much<br />

disparity in the rhetorical disposition as in the older formal and literary analysis. 42<br />

The narrative is far more flexible than the handbooks lead one to expect. One<br />

should guard against making rhetorical theory a Procrustean bed to which, willy-<br />

42 Edgar Krentz, “1 Thessalonians: Rhetorical Flourishes and Formal Constraints,” in The<br />

Thessalonians Debate: Methodological Discord or Methodological Synthesis? (ed. Karl P.<br />

Donfried and Johannes Beutler; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2000), 287, note 1;<br />

emphasis mine.<br />

81

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