Monotheism in Paul’s Rhetorical World

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History-of-Religions Approach (Religionsgeschichte)

As exemplified by the discussion thus far, we will incorporate a history-ofreligions approach, viewing the text from the outside. As Smith pointed out, this approach means the analysis must be more than a paraphrase of the author’s expression. The interpretation “cannot be simply the data writ large. . . . When map is the territory, it lacks both utility and any cognitive advantage.”129 Likewise, as van den Heever explained, if we merely take a text at face value and accept the insider viewpoint, we will not be able to relate its statements to their context effectively. To theorize about a religious text, we must view it from a distance and translate its statements into language foreign to the original author and audience.

Philosophical and Theological Hermeneutics

In the twentieth century, postmodern philosophers challenged the underpinnings of traditional hermeneutics. The prevailing modernist approach, based on the Enlightenment, championed unbiased reason and assumed a neutral observer could ascertain the intentions of an author and the fixed, objective meaning of a text by the straightforward use of historical-critical tools. In contrast Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur held it to be impossible to have presuppositionless thought.142 More than anyone else, Gadamer overthrew the Cartesian and Enlightenment approach to meaning and truth, emphasizing that everything involves hermeneutics, everything requires interpretation.

Rhetorical Criticism

As we examine our selected text closely, we will employ methods of rhetorical criticism. Rhetorical criticism seeks to understand the purpose of an utterance or writing within the overall situation in which it was created. This approach recognizes that meaning can rest as much in the situation that generated the language as in the language itself. As we have discussed, historical-critical/grammatical exegesis focuses on the intention of the author, and while rhetorical criticism can aid in this process, it opens additional avenues of fruitful investigation. It reveals that meaning can change radically depending on the rhetorical situation—not just the verbal context of the words but the situation that evoked the words, the purpose for which the words were communicated, the effect that the words were intended or expected to have.

Pagan Monotheism

Most people in the Mediterranean world of the first century C.E. were polytheists. On a philosophical level some thought in terms of the unity of the divine nature, but on a practical level they acknowledged the worship of many gods in the world. Some dedicated themselves to the worship of one god, but in these cases it would generally be more accurate to describe them as henotheists rather than monotheists. Versnel described two pagan deities for whom claims of cosmic lordship and universal worship were made, Isis and Dionysos, noting that they were new types of gods and not typical of the ancient Greek gods.205 The Bacchae, a play by Euripides produced in Athens in 405 B.C.E., presents Dionysos as a foreign god who demanded reverence by everyone. It thus sets up a classic conflict between the socio-political community and the challenge of a new god and between institutional religion and a deviant sect.

The Possibility of Two Divine Beings in Second Temple Judaism

In recent decades, several scholars have argued for a significant modification within Second Temple Jewish monotheism that could have set the stage for the recognition of Jesus as a second divine being.238 At the end of the first century and beginning of the second century C.E., Jewish rabbis such as Akiva and Ishmael began to oppose vehemently what they described as the heresy of “two powers in heaven”; originally, this issue involved the identity and exaltation of a human figure in heaven.

CONTENTS :

• 1. Introduction
  • Christian Origins
  • Paul’s Discourse in Rhetorical Perspective
  • Monotheistic Discourse and Deification Language
  • Early Christian Discourse about Jesus
  • The Question of How: Describing Christological Monotheism
  • The Question of Why: Causation and Motive
  • Significance of 2 Corinthians 3:16–4:
  • Summary: Questions, Approach, and Goals
  • Quotation of 2 Corinthians 3:16–4:
• 2. Theory and Method
  • History-of-Religions Approach (Religionsgeschichte)
  • Historical-Critical/Grammatical Exegesis
  • Philosophical and Theological Hermeneutics
  • Rhetorical Criticism
  • The Hermeneutical Context of Oneness Pentecostal Christology
  • Summary
• 3. Monotheism in Paul’s Rhetorical World
  • Pagan Monotheism
  • Monotheism in Second Temple Judaism
  • The Possibility of Two Divine Beings in Second Temple Judaism
  • Jewish Christian Scriptures
  • Developments in the Second Century and Beyond
  • Conclusions
• 4. Deification Language in Paul’s Rhetorical World
  • Christ, Xristo/v
  • Yahweh, YHWH
  • Lord, ku/riov
  • Jesus, 0Ihsou=v
  • Spirit, pneu=ma
• 5. Deification Language in Paul’s Corinthian Correspondence
  • Rhetorical Situation of 1 and 2 Corinthians
  • Overview of 1 and 2 Corinthians
  • Significant Language in 1 Corinthians
  • Significant Language in 2 Corinthians
  • Conclusions
• 6. Exegesis of 2 Corinthians 3:16–4:
  • Immediate Literary Background
  • Second Corinthians 3:
  • Second Corinthians 3:
  • Second Corinthians 3:
  • Second Corinthians 4:
  • Second Corinthians 4:
  • Summary
• 7. Exploring the Textures
  • The Question of What: Significance of the Deification Language
  • The Question of How: Redescribing Early Christian Discourse about Jesus
  • The Question of Why: Causation and Motive
  • Ideological Texture: Hebrew Monotheism and Greek Universals
  • Social Texture: Group Integrity, Soteriology, and Missiology
  • Testing the Hypothesis: Baptism in the Name of Jesus
  • Conclusions
• Bibliography

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MONOTHEISTIC DISCOURSE AND DEIFICATION OF JESUS IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY AS EXEMPLIFIED IN 2 CORINTHIANS 3:16–4:6