To Know All Mysteries (eBook)

The Mystagogue Figure in Classical Antiquity and in Saint Paul's Letters to the Corinthians

C. Andrew Ballard (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2022
404 Seiten
Bloomsbury Publishing (USA) (Verlag)
978-1-9787-8422-2 (ISBN)

Infos

This book examines the way that Paul presents himself as a guide into mysteries, a "e;mystagogue,"e; in 1-2 Corinthians. By describing himself as a type of mystagogue for the community, Paul was following a precedent in both Jewish and non-Jewish sources for invoking mystagogic language to engage in polemics with a rival. In opposition to the precedent, however, Paul understands the mystagogue to be a bi-partite figure-comprised of both foolishness and wisdom simultaneously. C. Andrew Ballard argues that ancient mystagogues were often described in two disparate ways: figures of power, and figures of weakness and foolishness. Paul synthesizes both aspects of the mystagogue in his self-presentation to the Corinthians. The figure of the mystagogue, as a wise-fool, was useful to Paul because it was descriptive not only of his own experience as a suffering yet authoritative apostle, but also of the experience of his deity, the suffering and glorified Christ. By presenting himself as both a powerful and foolish mystagogue, Paul could argue that he was a more authentic imitator of Christ than his opponents in Corinth, who boasted in self-exaltation instead of self-humility. In this way, Paul used the character of the mystagogue as a strategic rhetorical tool in his communication with the Corinthians.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 31.8.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Bibelausgaben / Bibelkommentare
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Weitere Religionen
• ISBN-10: 1-9787-8422-8 / 1978784228
• ISBN-13: 978-1-9787-8422-2 / 9781978784222