The Epistle to the Galatians and Classic Rhetoric: Parts 1 & 2

Abstract

Is it a useful or valid approach to St. Paul’s Epistles to analyse them in terms derived from the classical Greek and Roman rhetorical theorists? In the following three-part exploration of this question, of which the first two parts appear here and the third is to be published in the next issue of Tyndale Bulletin, the main focus of attention is the Epistle to the Galatians. Part 1 presents a demonstration that rhetorical criticism of a quality which deserves the attention of modern readers is applied to Paul’s writing in the Commentary on Galatians by St. John Chrysostom. Part 2 re-examines with necessary scepticism the general question of Paul’s relation to pagan Hellenic culture as a whole and rhetoric in particular. Evidence is found for consciousness on Paul’s part of sophisticated rhetorical concepts, but it remains debatable whether, in his youth, he had studied any non-Jewish Greek literature. Part 3 begins with a close reading of Galatians in relation to classical theory on proems, narratives, arguments and conclusions, and poses the question, ‘What justification did Paul have for regarding his discourse as somehow distinct from the σοφία of this world?’ It often proves possible to parallel Paul’s rhetorical strategies in pagan theory and practice. However, it emerges that at the most fundamental level, notably in the bases of his argumentation, his approach was genuinely quite distinct from pagan sophistic.