Interpreting Letters

NT Glover - Final Exam

format of ancient letters

• introduction/greetings

  • changed from what’s up kind greek to grace greek

  • usually 1-2v

• thanksgiving

  • highlights what’s going on well

  • 3-5v

• main body

  • talks about issues that need to be addressed in recipient’s context

  • usually a paragraph

• closing/well-wishes

  • greet specific desired recipients

Paul’s adjustments to the typical letters

• his main body was wayyyyyy longer

• he departed/changed this structure to make intentional extremely noticable changes

ancient authors vs modern authors

• ancient = named up front

• modern = named at the end

ancient addressees vs modern addressees

• ancient = named at the end

• modern = named up front

what does it mean to “hear all the voices” in letters?

• like listening to one end of the telephone conversation

• Paul’s letters are half of what’s going on

  • easy to misconstrue

“mirror reading”

The practice of retrieving the ‘other side’ of the letter correspondence by seeing how what was written in the letter we do have would respond to concerns raised by those to whom the letter is responding

• John Barclay

contingency

• What is being said is dependent on the situation being responded to

  • applicable to a lot of what Paul says in its presentation and context

  • only relevant to the ancient context

coherence

The umbrella everything fits under

• Paul’s theological framework does not differ from situation to situation

• Every coherent thing he says is still relevant and applicable to us

  • it crosses time and context