Paul and First-Century Letter Writing

by Richards, E. Randolph

• ISBN13: 9780830827886
• ISBN10: 0830827889
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-11-01
• Publisher: Ivp Academic

Summary

Traditional Christian art depicts Paul the letter writer, pen in hand, attentive to the Spirit. We might think we know better and imagine him pacing in agitation as he rapidly dictates to a secretary his letter to the Galatians. But in reality neither of these pictures is accurate.In Paul's day, producing a letter was a time-consuming and costly business. And we have ample resources from the ancient world to piece together what it must have been like. A secretary was usually part of the picture. But so were notes, drafts, corrections and careful rewrites, not to speak of scratchy pens, sooty ink and coarse papyrus. Interestingly, there is evidence that Paul involved his missionary team in the writing of letters. And then came the delivery over land and sea, the reading and circulation, as well as the epistolary afterlife of copying, collecting and storing. E. Randolph Richards has extensively studied ancient letter writing and secretaries. Informed by the historical evidence and with a sharp eye for telltale clues in Paul's letters, he takes us into this world and places us on the scene with Paul the letter writer. What first appears to be just a study of secretaries and stationery turns out to be an intriguing glimpse of Paul the letter writer that overthrows our preconceptions and offers a new perspective on how this important portion of Christian Scripture came to be.

Author Biography

E. Randolph Richards is professor of biblical studies and theology at Pruet School of Christian Studies, Ouachita Baptist University.

Table of Contents

Preface	9	(2)
Abbreviations	11	(2)
Introduction	13	(1)
Ancients and Their Letters	13	(1)
Sources of Information	14	(2)
Paul Loved to Write Letters	16	(1)
Other Books on Paul and Letter Writing	16	(1)
Why Read This Book?	17	(2)
A Modern, Western Paul	19	(13)
Modern Models of Paul the Letter Writer	20	(3)
Underlying Assumptions in Both Modern Models	23	(3)
Problems with Modern Models	26	(5)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	31	(1)
Paul as a First-Century Letter Writer	32	(15)
Paul as the Leader of a Mission Team	32	(1)
Paul and His Coauthors	33	(3)
The Letter Writer's Office	36	(9)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	45	(2)
The Tools of a Letter Writer	47	(12)
Writing Materials	47	(6)
Desks	53	(2)
Notes and Notebooks	55	(3)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	58	(1)
Secretaries in the First-Century World	59	(22)
How Common Were Secretaries?	60	(4)
How Did Secretaries Work?	64	(15)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	79	(2)
Paul's Use of a Secretary	81	(13)
Describing Paul's Secretary	81	(8)
Identifying Paul's Secretary	89	(3)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	92	(2)
Identifying Inserted Material	94	(15)
Modern Concepts of Plagiarism and Copyright	94	(1)
Preformed Material	95	(4)
Interpolations	99	(9)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	108	(1)
Weaving Together a Letter	109	(13)
Weaving Inserted Material into a Letter	109	(9)
The ``Author'' and Inserted Material	118	(2)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	120	(2)
Classifying Paul's Letters	122	(19)
Public or Private: Classifying Greco-Roman Letters	122	(5)
Paul's Letter as a Greco-Roman Letter	127	(13)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	140	(1)
Analyzing Paul's Writing Style	141	(15)
The Writing Style of Paul	141	(7)
Stylistic Differences Because Paul Used a Secretary	148	(7)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	155	(1)
Preparing a Letter for Dispatch	156	(15)
Making a Copy	156	(5)
Preparing the Dispatched Copy	161	(4)
Estimating Paul's Cost to Write a Letter	165	(4)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	169	(2)
Dispatching the Letter	171	(17)
Signing the Letter	171	(5)
Folding and Sealing the Letter	176	(1)
Carrying the Letter	177	(8)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	185	(3)
Paul's Letter Carriers	188	(13)
Identifying Paul's Carriers	188	(1)
The Logistics of Carrying Paul's Letters	189	(11)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	200	(1)
Paul's Use of His Letter Carriers	201	(9)
Additional Tasks of a Letter Carrier	201	(3)
The Availability of a Carrier	204	(3)
Paul's Developing Use of Letter Carriers	207	(2)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	209	(1)
Collecting Paul's Letters	210	(14)
Formation of the Pauline Corpus	210	(4)
Retaining Personal Copies	214	(2)
Copies and the Codex	216	(1)
Collections from Retained Copies	217	(1)
The Collection of Paul's Letters	218	(5)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	223	(1)
Inspiration and First-century Letter Writing	224	(6)
Letter Writing and Inspiration	224	(5)
Conclusions for Paul as a Letter Writer	229	(1)
Conclusion	230	(3)
Bibliography	233	(12)
Modern Authors Index	245	(2)
Subject Index	247	(4)
Scripture Index	251