Gifts and Ritual by Teresa Lee McCaskill;

Author:Teresa Lee McCaskill;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing
Published: 2022-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Decline Narratives as a Method of Instruction in Rom 1:18–32

I have noted that ancient writers used stories that warned of divine retribution. If one displeased the gods, reprisals could be swift and sharp. These stories served as a platform for teaching moral lessons and a tool that revealed divine expectations. In Rom 1:18–32, Paul details the downward spiral of gentiles who do not worship God. This kind of description can be seen as a literary device or cautionary tale that helps teach his audience about the repercussions of wrongly focused worship. Stowers suggests that Rom 1:18–32 should be viewed in light of the decline of civilization narratives such as the one that appears in Hesiod’s Works and Days.77 Such a detailed account of decline would have provided background information that “Paul and the addressees implied in Rom 1:18–32 shared.”78 Significantly, Stowers states that “[a]lmost every vice in Paul’s list can be paralleled in Hesiod and in reinterpretations of Hesiod’s legend that had gained great cultural and political importance in Paul’s day.”79

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