Ancient Letters and the New Testament: A Guide to Context and Exegesis PDF
Preview Ancient Letters and the New Testament: A Guide to Context and Exegesis
Ancient Letters and the New Testament Ancient Letters and the New Testament A Guide to Context and Exegesis Hans-Josef Klauck With the collaboration of Daniel P. Bailey Baylor University Press Waco, Texas English Translation © 2006 by Baylor University Press Waco, Texas 76798 All Rights Reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, elec- tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of Baylor University Press. Translated from Die antike Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament: Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch /Hans-Josef Klauck © 1998 Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn, Germany, with revisions and additions for the English edition. Translated and edited by Daniel P. Bailey. Book Design:Diane Smith Cover Design:Pamela Poll Cover Image:“Letter from Apion” from an Egyptian soldier in the Roman navy to his father.Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Photo Credit: Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/ArtResource, NY Back Cover Image:Codex Sinaiticus. Used by permission of the British Library (Add. 43725 f. 323). Figure 1: “The Manufacture of Papyrus” from Der Neue Pauly,vol. 9 (2000). Used by permsission. Figure 2: E. G. Turner, The Typology of the Early Codex(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977) 45. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pennsylvania Press. Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Klauck, Hans-Josef. [Antike Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament. English] Ancient letters and the New Testament : a guide to context and exegesis / Hans-Josef Klauck with the collaboration of Daniel P.Bailey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN-13: 978-1-932792-40-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Bible. N.T.Epistles--Language, style--Textbooks. 2. Classical letters-- Historyand criticism--Textbooks. 3. Letter writing, Classical--Textbooks. I. Bailey,Daniel P.II. Title. BS2635.6.L3K5313 2006 227'.06--dc22 2006020603 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper with a minimum of 30% pcw recycled content. Contents Preface vii Abbreviations ix General Bibliographies xix List of Bibliographies xxix List of Exercises xxxiii Introduction 1 1 Foundations—Two Letters of Apion and Two Letters of the “Elder” 9 2 Practical Realities—Paper and Postal System 43 3 Nonliterary and Diplomatic Correspondence 67 4 Poetry and Philosophy—Literary Letters 103 5 Epistolary Theory and Rhetoric 183 6 Letters in Early Judaism 229 7 New Testament Letters I: Overview 299 8 New Testament Letters II: Selected Texts 355 Epilogue 435 Answer Key 445 Index of Ancient Sources 471 Index of Authors 481 Index of Subjects 495 v Preface “I think I should understand that better,” Alice said very politely, “if I had it written down: but I can’t quite follow it as you say it.” –Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland,chap. 9 Picking up on an incomplete ancient definition that requires some supplementation, we have grown accustomed to regarding a letter as “half of a dialogue” or as a continuation of a conversation by other means. Recently we have also learned to understand the let- ter as a speech or sermon, which has been put down in writing only of necessity under the pressure of circumstances. But does the inalienable writtenness of a letter not also have its positive side? The same written form that forces the author to more intense reflection also provides the addressee with opportunities for unhurried reading and interpretive rereading. Just as in Alice’s experience, some things that pass us by when we only hear them become easier to understand when we have them before our eyes in writing. Not only in their main theme but also in their genesis, the fol- lowing reflections are inextricably bound up in the dialectical rela- tionship of hearing and reading, lecturing, conversing, writing and—hopefully—being read. They have grown out of courses and seminars designed to provide an introduction to the New Testament letters and their ancient literaryenvironment. I can only hope that some spark of the excitement that was not infrequently experienced by those who worked together with me on these mate- rials also comes across to the reader. vii viii Preface The ancient letter-writing handbooks acknowledged among others the epistolary type known as the letter of thanks, and an expression of thanks is one of the stock formulas of the papyrus letters and the letters of Paul; it is therefore all the more fitting at the beginning of a book about letters. This is the English edition of a book that appeared 1998 in German under the titleDie antike Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament: Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch. It is not a simple translation, but the text of the German edition has been thoroughly revised, updated, and also enlarged. For this I am especially grateful to three persons. Carey C. Newman of Baylor University Press was very enthusiastic about this project from the very beginning and has been instrumental in the realization of this English edition. My research assistant Trevor W. Thompson has transformed and updated the bibliographies. Daniel P. Bailey has done much more than just translating and editing the German text. He has also added explanatory notes on philological and other subjects to the text and the footnotes (which I have approved), and through his careful questioning he has forced me to rethink quite a few points and to improve my argument. It is to be hoped that this makes the book not only better, but especially also more user-friendly for the English-speaking student. To all three of them I extend a deeply felt word of thanks. Hans-Josef Klauck The University of Chicago Divinity School
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