Transforming Boasting of Self into Boasting in the Lord

The Development of the Pauline Periautologia in 2 Cor 10–13

Marcin Kowalski

This book uses rhetorical analysis to illuminate one of the most fascinating and complicated speeches by Saint Paul: 2 Cor 10–13. The main problem of the speech regards Paul’s claim to be a true servant of Christ and to have the right to boast about it. Paul proves he is strong enough to be the leader of Corinth and paradoxically demonstrates that weakness should belong to the identity of an apostle. Another issue regards the legitimacy of his boasting. The egocentric boast based on the comparison with his opponents is the one that Paul calls foolish, but he is forced, nevertheless, to undertake it. The tool that ultimately enables him to transform self-aggrandizing speech into speech that is focused on Christ is his paradoxical boasting of weakness. The careful crafting of his discourse based on Christological principles ultimately speaks for qualifying it as a self-praise speech (periautologia) with a pedagogical, not defensive, purpose.

University Press of America

Pages: 340 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-6123-2 • Paperback • July 2013 • $49.99 • (£38.00)

978-0-7618-6124-9 • eBook • July 2013 • $47.50 • (£37.00)

Series: Studies in Judaism

Subjects: Religion / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / Old Testament, Religion / Biblical Meditations / Old Testament, Religion / Biblical Studies / Old Testament / General, Religion / Christian Living / Personal Growth, Religion / Essays

Transforming Boasting of Self into Boasting in the Lord

The Development of the Pauline Periautologia in 2 Cor 10–13

Paperback

eBook

Summary

This book uses rhetorical analysis to illuminate one of the most fascinating and complicated speeches by Saint Paul: 2 Cor 10–13. The main problem of the speech regards Paul’s claim to be a true servant of Christ and to have the right to boast about it. Paul proves he is strong enough to be the leader of Corinth and paradoxically demonstrates that weakness should belong to the identity of an apostle. Another issue regards the legitimacy of his boasting. The egocentric boast based on the comparison with his opponents is the one that Paul calls foolish, but he is forced, nevertheless, to undertake it. The tool that ultimately enables him to transform self-aggrandizing speech into speech that is focused on Christ is his paradoxical boasting of weakness. The careful crafting of his discourse based on Christological principles ultimately speaks for qualifying it as a self-praise speech (periautologia) with a pedagogical, not defensive, purpose.

Details

University Press of America

Pages: 340 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-6123-2 • Paperback • July 2013 • $49.99 • (£38.00)

978-0-7618-6124-9 • eBook • July 2013 • $47.50 • (£37.00)

Series: Studies in Judaism

Subjects: Religion / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / Old Testament, Religion / Biblical Meditations / Old Testament, Religion / Biblical Studies / Old Testament / General, Religion / Christian Living / Personal Growth, Religion / Essays

Author

Fr. Marcin Kowalski was born in Kielce, Poland. He became an ordained priest in 2002 at the diocese of Kielce. In 2011, he obtained a Ph.D. in sacred scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He currently teaches courses in the Old and New Testaments at John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin in Poland.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: 2 Cor 10–13 and the Unity of the Letter
Chapter 2: Oral and Discursive Models in 2 Cor 10–13
Chapter 3: 2 Cor 10 as a Key to Reading 2 Cor 10–13
Chapter 4: The Rhetorical Genre of 2 Cor 10–13
General Conclusions
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Indices

Reviews

[The book contains] compelling text interpretations. . . .[The author] shows a keen sense of the text, which makes the reading of the book . . . a joy.
— Biblische Zeitschrift

Transforming Boasting of Self into Boasting in the Lord

The Development of the Pauline Periautologia in 2 Cor 10–13

Marcin Kowalski

Transforming Boasting of Self into Boasting in the Lord

The Development of the Pauline Periautologia in 2 Cor 10–13

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