THE ROLE OF THE READER AND OTHER LITERARY CATEGORIES IN PHILIPPIANS

Abstract

The role of the reader and other literary categories in the letter of Paul to the Philippians, are discussed here specifically in the light of the recent commentary of W Schenk (1984) on Philippians. Various points of agreement with the approach of Schenk can be pointed out. It is also significant that the context of Philippians is illuminated from the intertextual level. There can also be no doubt about the fact that this commentary, taking its point of departure from the linguistic and literary point of view is really breaking new ground. Nevertheless, this commentary displays some similarities with ‘traditional’ contemporary approaches which can be questioned in the light of its point of departure. Although attention is given to the implications of different linguistic signs in the text with a view to the readers, this article states that the role of the reader, especially the different categories of textual and extratextual readers of Philippians, is not dealt with adequately by Schenk. The implications of these factors for the reception and polyvalence of the text, are to receive more attention.