Unveiling the Apocalyptic Paul: Paul's Interpreters and the Rhetoric of Criticism

371 Pages·2013·19.12 MB·English

by  R. Barry Matlock

l i b r a r y o f n e w t e s t a m e n t s t u d i e s
UNveiLiNg The
ApocALypTic pAUL
paul’s interpreters and the Rhetoric of criticism

R. BaRRy matlock
JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
127
Executive Editor
Stanley E. Porter
Editorial Board
Richard Bauckham, David Catchpole, R. Alan Culpepper,
Margaret Davies, James D.G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans, Stephen Fowl,
Robert Fowler, Robert Jewett, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon
Sheffield Academic Press

Unveiling the Apocalyptic Paul
Paul's Interpreters
and the Rhetoric of Criticism
R. Barry Matlock
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Supplement Series 127
Copyright © 1996 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
Mansion House
19KingfieldRoad
Sheffield, SI 19AS
England
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
EISBN 9781850755906
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments 7
Abbreviations 9
Introduction
TWO AGES, TWO STAGES 11
Chapter 1
THE BEGINNINGS: ALBERT SCHWEITZER AND THE
ESCHATOLOGICAL PAUL 23
Chapter 2
HISTORY AND ESCHATOLOGY: DODD, BULTMANN AND
CULLMANN 72
l.C.H.Dodd 76
2. Rudolf Bultmann 100
3. Oscar Cullmann 129
Chapter 3
ENTHUSIASM FOR AN 'APOCALYPTIC' PAUL: ERNST KASEMANN 186
Chapter 4
'APOCALYPTIC INTERPRETATION AND INTERPRETING
'APOCALYPTIC: A CRITIQUE 247
Chapter 5
ONCE MORE HERMENEUTICS 317
Bibliography 341
Index of Authors 358

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The present study is a revision of my 1993 University of Sheffield
doctoral thesis, the acknowledgments to which are retained below.
Revision throughout has been limited and largely stylistic, with some
trimming here and there and a handful of additional items of
bibliography. Much more could surely be done, or redone, but I wish
simply to pass the study along to others, timely as I hope it is, and, as is
the way with such things, ready as I am to move on. It remains to me to
thank the examining readers of the thesis, Loveday Alexander and
Anthony Thiselton, for their careful and constructive attention to the
work. Also, my indebtedness to Sheffield doubly increases, as I now,
from 1994, join the department as a lecturer and as my study joins the
Sheffield press's JSNT Supplement Series. And after a year with
Andrew as colleague, I have had to wish him and Carol all the best as
they move on to Toronto, Andrew to assume his chair at Wycliffe
College, University of Toronto. I am saddened to record the passing of
my father, Thomas Ray Matlock, while this monograph was in press; he
would have been proud to see it appear. Finally, I will also record that,
as its predecessor came forth in the early months of our firstborn's
young life, we send out the published version expecting our second,
both to appear around the same time early '96.
Sheffield; December, 1995
8 Unveiling the Apocalyptic Paul
A thesis is meant to be the process by which one 'learns to be a
scholar'. At the same time, it is to be a 'contribution to scholarship'.
Theoretically, then, one is not able to produce one until having done so.
To survive such an anomalous position is to draw on the support of
many.
To the Academic Cabinet of the Faculty of Westminster Theological
Seminary for the granting of an Edwin L. Jones Graduate Fellowship
for the year 1990-91, and to the British Committee of Vice-Chancellors
and Principals for the granting of an ORS Award for the year 1991-92,1
offer again my sincerest gratitude for the timely assistance given. I have
taken with great seriousness the confidence hereby placed in me, and
the responsibility that this entails, and I have done simply the best that I
could, knowing nothing more was asked of me—indeed, not by any of
those here thanked.
To my supervisor, Andrew Lincoln, special thanks are due. I have
always been given by him complete freedom to go and do as I will,
always knowing that, when it came to assessing critically what I had
(and had not) done, he would take such expert care and consideration as
only to confirm my implicit trust in his oversight. It is hard to put a
price on that, making my debt inestimable.
To my parents and parents-in-law I offer my loving gratitude for, by
their unquestioning support, making this possible for me.
Finally, and most dearly, I must speak of my wife, Mitzi, and of our
son, Hayden Thompson Matlock, born in the final stages of the more
protracted labour of this thesis. Together they put everything into
perspective for me. To have this without them would be for me a hollow
thing. But to have them without this would leave me still blessed beyond
measure. Which leads me, in the end, to offer a higher thanksgiving.
Sheffield, England; September, 1993
ABBREVIATIONS
AGJU Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des
Urchristentums
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der rbmischen Welt
ATR Anglican Theological Review
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BEATAJ Beitrage zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und das
Antiken Judentums
BHT Beitrage zur historischen Theologie
BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester
BZNW Beihefte zur ZNW
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CRINT Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum
ETL Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses
EvT Evangelische Theologie
ExpTim Expository Times
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen
Testaments
GTA Gottinger theologische Arbeiten
HBT Horizons in Biblical Theology
HR History of Religions
IDB GA. Buttrick (ed.), Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible
IDBSup IDB, Supplementary Volume
Int Interpretation
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JR Journal of Religion
JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism
JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament
JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Supplement Series
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series
JSP Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
JSPSup Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, Supplement
Series
JTC Journal for Theology and the Church
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
LR Lutherische Rundschau
MNTC Moffat New Testament Commentary
NovTSup Novum Testamentum Supplements