Oral and Manuscript Culture in the Bible: Studies on the Media Texture of the New Testament--Explorative Hermeneutics (Biblical Performance Criticism Book 7) by Loubser J. A

Author:Loubser, J. A.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

7

Paul as Contextual “Theologian”

Exploring the Oral Poetics

of 2 Corinthians 1:3–11

One of the major problems in contemporary theology is determining the difference between a legitimate and an “illegitimate” contextual theology. While there is wide recognition that context plays an inevitable role in all theological communications, it is also evident that some contextualisations are misguided. One example of an unacceptable “contextual” theology was the so-called apartheid theology that legitimised the enforced segregation of races in South Africa.218 Though some scholars have denied that apartheid theology was a contextual theology, apartheid theologians advanced sophisticated arguments to award normative value to their own context. Without entering into further debate as to what constitutes a contextual theology, this chapter focuses on the type of contextuality that we find in the biblical text itself, and especially the Pauline texts. Assessing the cultural distance between contextualisations in the Bible and present contextual theology seems to be a prerequisite for an informed contribution to the debate.

Contextualisation in biblical times was conducted within the constraints of the media culture of the time, i.e., that of an oral-manuscript medium. It is not my intention to present a comprehensive theory of contextualisation, but to investigate how the media environment of the first century influenced the development of theological concepts. Some hermeneutical guidelines will be proposed that might assist modern scholars in understanding Pauline theology.

When examining a pericope like 2 Cor 1:3–11, even the most accomplished modern interpreter will have to admit that he or she is unable to generate a similar text spontaneously. Even if it were possible, it is doubtful whether any modern audience would appreciate it. The reason for this is the difference between Pauline and modern thought structures. The difference is more than merely a difference in language and style of the Koine Greek of the first century and that of modern languages. It is a question of two different types of logic that relate to the differences in media cultures.

For modern audiences, who have over centuries been trained in the thought patterns facilitated by high literate culture, the oral poetics of an intermediate manuscript culture appears foreign. In the preceding chapters we elaborated on this point with reference to the studies of Ong and Kelber. We also argued that, although Paul and his authorial team produced manuscripts and to some degree followed contemporary epistolary forms, they exhibit the oral conventions still residual in their era. These conventions become apparent when we consider some theological concepts (as pointed out in the previous chapter).

Modern people who read the Bible naively through the lenses of cheirographic culture end up in various hermeneutical dilemmas. This type of biblicist reading is encouraged by smooth modern translations that have been tuned to silent, individual reading (e.g., in Today’s English Version (1966) and the New International Version). For this reason the oral poetics of the primary texts can better be detected in the almost literal translation of the King James Version. The passage under consideration was chosen because, like all the opening sections in the letters, it is exceptionally rich in implicit and explicit theological ideas (cf.

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