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A Patristic Perspective on Pauline περιαυτολογια

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2001

MARGARET M. MITCHELL
MARGARET M. MITCHELL
Affiliation:
University of Chicago Divinity School, 1025 East 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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Abstract

Contemporary scholars, extending back to Hans Windisch's 1924 commentary on 2 Corinthians, have pointed to parallels between Paul's language of ‘boasting’ in 2 Cor 11–12 and Plutarch's treatise de laude ipsius. But would an ancient reader have made this connection between Paul's letters and discussions about self-praise (περιαυτολογια) in ancient rhetorical and philosophical writings? This paper demonstrates that John Chrysostom, the rhetorically trained Antiochene, did just that, particular in his fifth oration de laudibus sancti Pauli, where he defends Paul's ‘speech about himself’ on precisely the grounds Plutarch allowed for inoffensive boasting in his famous treatise.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , July 2001 , pp. 354 - 371
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This paper contains excerpts from Margaret M. Mitchell, The Heavenly Trumpet: John Chrysostom and the Art of Pauline Interpretation (HUT 40; Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck ], 2000) 339–52, reprinted by permission of the publisher.