Prosopological Exegesis in Cyprian's "De opere et eleemosynis"

Abstract

Abstract Cyprian of Carthage's treatise De opere et eleemosynis represents an important contribution to the emerging early Christian discourse about the redemptive value of almsgiving. Throughout the treatise, Cyprian draws on the language of Scripture in order to develop his claim that almsgiving purges the postbaptismal sins of the donor. This article demonstrates Cyprian's use of the hermeneutical strategy known as "prosopological exegesis" in De opere et eleemosynis. Prosopological exegesis is a literary and grammatical method of interpretation that discerns the identity of speakers, or πρóσωπα, in inspired texts. This interpretive practice allows Cyprian to name the Holy Spirit as the "speaker" of certain biblical texts (e.g., Prov 16:6 and Sir 3:30 in Eleem. 2), thus grounding Cyprian's ethical exhortation in divine speech. Moreover, Cyprian frames the Holy Spirit as delivering, through Scripture, a declarative speech act that supports both Cyprian's theological assertion that almsgiving and acts of mercy alleviate postbaptismal sin and Cyprian's paraenetic activity of encouraging eleemosyna. Therefore, the speech of the Holy Spirit in De opere et eleemosynis authorizes both the message and the messenger.