Investigating The Pauline Letter Body: Issues, Methods, And Approaches

Abstract

Five scholarly contributions are largely responsible for advances in epistolography. first is Francis Xavier Exler's dissertation entitled The Form of the Ancient Greek Letter: A Study in Epistolography. second is Heikki Koskenniemi's Studien zur Idee und Phraseologie des griechischen Briefes bis 400 n. Chr., , the third is John L. White's Form and Function of the Body of the Greek Letter , the fourth is Abraham J. Malherbe's Epistolary Theorists , and the fifth is Hans Dieter Betz's The Literary Composition and Function of Paul's Letter to the Galatians. Thus, both the field of epistolography and Pauline studies address the issue of the extent of a letter body. As in epistolography, Pauline scholars specify the extent of the Pauline letter body largely by default as everything between the opening and closing formulae. Keywords: Abraham J. Malherbe; epistolography; Francis Xavier Exler; Hans Dieter Betz; Heikki Koskenniemi; John L. White; Paul's Letter