Paul's Large Letters: Paul's Autobiographic Subscription in the Light of Ancient Epistolary Conventions by Steve Reece

Abstract

Reviewed by: Paul's Large Letters: Paul's Autobiographic Subscription in the Light of Ancient Epistolary Conventions by Steve Reece Christoph Stenschke Reece, Steve. 2017. Paul's Large Letters: Paul's Autobiographic Subscription in the Light of Ancient Epistolary Conventions. Library of New Testament Studies 561. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark. ISBN 978-05676690632017. Pp. 256. $135. The continuous stream of detailed studies on ancient epistolography (e.g., Bauer 2011; Doering 2012) keeps throwing fresh light on the epistles of the NT, in particular those belonging to the Corpus Paulinum. Many features of ancient letters and letter writing have been covered in detail. However, as the present monograph demonstrates, some aspects still deserve detailed examination! Reece, a classical philologist by training and perspective (x), starts with the observation that at the end of several of his letters, that is 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Philemon (see also Col and 2 Thess), Paul claims to be penning with his own hand a summary and farewell greeting to the readers. These autographic subscriptions, as they are called, raise a number of questions regarding Paul's letters, which the present monograph seeks to address: Did he write any complete letters himself, or did he always dictate to a scribe? How much did his scribes contribute to the composition of his letters? Did Paul make the effort to proofread and correct what he had dictated? What was the purpose of Paul's autographic subscriptions? What was Paul's purpose in calling attention to their autographic nature? Why did Paul write in large letters in the subscription of his letter to the Galatians? Why did he call attention to this peculiarity of his handwriting? (p. ix) In the short preface, Reece also summarises the ancient epistolary source available: "From around the time of Paul there are extant several dozen letters from the caves and refuges in the desert of eastern Judaea (in Hebrew, Aramaic, Nabataean, Greek, and Latin), several hundred from the remains of a Roman military camp in Vindolanda in northern England (in Latin), and several thousand from the sands of Middle and Upper Egypt (in Greek, Latin, and Egyptian Demotic)" (ix). He also indicates that they are now easily available in digital form on various databases. In part one, Reece examines Paul's autographic subscriptions (3–69). The discussion includes a description of the laboriousness of letter [End Page 205] writing in antiquity (12–16), surveys of the Greek, Latin and Jewish literary letter-writing traditions (17–39) and an examination of Paul's letter writing in the light of his contemporary epistolary conventions (40–50). Reece also analyses the function of autographic subscriptions in ancient letters (51–69). Regarding the rhetorical function of these subscriptions, Reece notes: In sum, Paul's motives for appending autographic subscriptions to his letters, and, in some cases, for declaring explicitly that he has done so, appear to fall in line with at least some of the motives of his letter-writing contemporaries: to authenticate authorship (Paul apparently had concerns about forgeries); to add authority or legality (Paul's letters were not merely casual greetings; they all broach serious subjects, and some of them are even contractual and legal in nature); to provide a personal touch (Paul was fond of his disciples and often wrote to them with great affection); to compensate in a tangible way for one's absence (Paul regarded his letters as a substitute for his physical presence). Other motives for autographic subscriptions expressed by Paul's letter-writing contemporaries do not appear to pertain to his letters: to ensure confidentiality (Paul's letters were largely public in nature); to add an addendum-like postscript (Paul had the leisure and resources to incorporate any afterthoughts into the body of his letters during the several steps of the compositional process). (pp. 68–69) Therefore, it is clear that whatever Paul's motives are, in Galatians he was following the conventions of his letter-writing contemporaries in dictating his letter to a scribe, in adding an autographic subscription and, though to a lesser degree, in remarking explicitly on the fact that he was writing in his own hand (69). Reece summarises his results as follows: In my examination...