"The Israel of God": The Narrative Rhetoric of Paul's Letter to the Galatians Público
Adams, Richard Manly (2012)
Published
Abstract
This study applies literary and rhetorical analysis to Paul's letter to the Galatians, reading the argument through the eyes of the letter's implied reader. Positioned between prevailing rhetorical and narrative approaches to the letter, the study argues that Galatians functions as a rhetorical construction of the community's narrative self-identity, an identity Paul labels at the end of the letter as the "Israel of God" (Galatians 6:16), a community defined by the presence and outward manifestation of the Spirit. Competing against alternate interpretations of the meaning of the Galatians' experience with the Spirit, Paul's argument is best understood as an emplotment of this experience within an unfolding narrative of the Israel of God, a narrative that began with the promises to Abraham, continued under a period of enslavement under sin for which the law was introduced as a temporary solution, and turned to freedom with the appearance of Christ, the seed of Abraham. Paul identifies the Galatians, unified through baptism, as this seed of Abraham, evidence of the end of the law's efficacy. This reconstructed narrative identity functions as Paul's answer to the rhetorical situation that prompts the letter. Using the narrative function explored by Paul Ricoeur, set within the apostle's Greco-Roman rhetorical milieu identified through elementary rhetorical exercises, formal rhetorical handbooks, and speeches made by Paul's rough contemporaries, this study identifies the construction of narrative identity through emplotment of the past as Paul's manner of deliberative rhetoric. After establishing a reading methodology from modern (ch. 2) and ancient (ch. 3) sources, the study consists in three exegetical chapters, tracing how Paul's construction of past events forms an argument about the Galatians' future belief and behavior.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Narrative and Rhetoric in Galatians
Time and Narrative in Galatians
"The Israel of God"
Narrative Rhetoric in Galatians
Narrative (and) Rhetoric in Galatians Scholarship
"Narrative" in Galatians
"Rhetoric" in Galatians
The Narrative of this Study
Chapter 2 Defining Narrative Rhetoric: An Analytical Approach
Reading with Aristotle Between Rhetoric and Poetics
Galatians within Paul Ricoeur's Mimetic Spiral
Ricoeur's Narrative Function and Aristotle's Poetics
Ricoeur and the Paradox of ΜUΘΟΣ and ΜΙΜΗΣΙΣ
Ricoeur's Three Stages of Mimesis
Reading the Narrative Rhetoric of Galatians
Defining Terms
A "Method" for Reading Narrative Rhetoric
Conclusion
Chapter 3 Defining Narrative Rhetoric: A Practical Approach
Narrative Rhetoric in the Ancient Rhetorical Handbooks, Part 1
A Demonstration of the Handbooks' Limitations: Dio Chrysostom's First Kingship Oration
Narrative Rhetoric in the Progymnasmata
An Introduction to the Progymnasmata
The Pedagogical Strategy of the Progymnasmata
Aelius Theon on Narrative
The Criterion for Construction: Audience in the Progymnasmata
Narrative Rhetoric in the Ancient Rhetorical Handbooks, Part 2
Narrative Rhetoric in Ancient Analytic Discourse
Narrative Rhetoric in Ancient Literary Criticism
Narrative Rhetoric in Ancient Historiography
"I myself would not tell all the achievements of the Savior": Reading Narrative Rhetoric in the Sacred Tales of Aelius Aristides
"Now I have not told this long story idly": Reading Narrative Rhetoric in the Orations of Dio Chrysostom
Conclusion
Chapter 4 The Narrative Rhetoric of Paul's Past
The Introduction of Narrative Rhetoric into Galatians
The Nature of The Gospel (1:10-12)
Paul's Narrative of Reversal (1:13-24)
The Galatians' Reading of Paul's Narrative
Paul's Defense of the Truth of the Gospel (2:1-10)
Mimetic and Thematic Response in Jerusalem
The Contrasting Example of Cephas (2:11-14)
O You Foolish Galatians! Paul's Argument "In Front of Everyone" (2:14b-21 and 3:1)
Conclusion
Chapter 5 Constructing Israel's Story
Narrative Rhetoric in Galatians 3-4
A Jewish Emplotment of Gentiles
Paul's Appeal to Narrative Identity at 4:12
The Beginning of Israel's Story: God's Promises to Abraham
The Law and Narrative
The End of the Law's Efficacy I: The Redemption of Christ
The End of the Law's Efficacy II: The Galatians as the Seed of Abraham
A Legal Explanation of The Galatians' Role in the Narrative of Israel (4:1-7)
Paul's "Legal" Critique of the Law
Constructing Narrative Through Sarah and Hagar
Conclusion
Chapter 6 The Law of Christ and the Israel of God: Exhortation as Emplotment
The Problem of the Indicative and the Imperative in Galatians 5-6
A Historical Integration of Paul's Exhortation
A Christological Integration of Paul's Exhortation
Paul's Narrative Moral Reasoning in Galatians 5-6
The Galatians and Circumcision (5:1-6)
Paul's Illustration of Faith Energized By Love
The Law of Christ
The Israel of God: The Narrative Rhetoric of Paul's Argument to the Galatians
A Select Bibliography of Modern Sources
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