The Pauline Letters: A Rhetorical Analysis
Ebook
Overview
In The Pauline Letters: A Rhetorical Analysis, David Oliver Smith unveils his revolutionary discovery that the apostle Paul divided his letters into structured literary units as he wrote them. These literary units are based upon repeated words, phrases, and abstract concepts and are invariably patterned into chiastic, parallel, or hybrid structures. Using his technique of rhetorical analysis, Smith sets out each literary unit in the seven undisputed letters of Paul. After the structures of the literary units have been exposed, the units reveal interpolations that disrupt Paul’s original structure. When the interpolations revealed by this technique are compared with interpolations heretofore proposed by Pauline scholars, there are some surprising results. Smith also uses his technique to analyze the Deutero-Pauline letters to determine whether any of those letters exhibit the same literary attributes as the undisputed letters.
“David Oliver Smith has done something important here. It is
quite worthwhile for a scholar to produce new theories and
interpretations for us to consider. But it is even more significant
when one crafts a new methodological tool, opening up altogether
new ways of analyzing biblical texts. And this is what Smith has
done in this groundbreaking book. Get ready to be both challenged
and enlightened!”
—Robert M. Price, editor, Journal of Higher Criticism
“Smith, a retired lawyer who turned his attention to New Testament
scholarship, proposes a new and different approach to determining
what Paul did and did not write. Applying ‘rhetorical analysis’ to
the letters claiming Pauline authorship, he seeks to identify both
interpolations (later additions to the authentically Pauline
letters) and pseudonymous letters (those falsely claiming Pauline
authorship). It is to be hoped that his book will be widely read
and given serious consideration by Pauline scholars.”
—William O. Walker Jr., Trinity University, emeritus
- Title: The Pauline Letters: A Rhetorical Analysis
- Authors: David Oliver Smith, Robert M. Price
- Publisher: Resource Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666744583, 9781666744576, 1666744573, 9781666744569, 1666744565, 1666744581
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666744583
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-10-23T08:44:56Z
David Oliver Smith has a JD from Duke University and is a
retired lawyer who began his study of the New Testament more than
fifteen years ago. He is the author of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
Paul: The Influence of the Epistles on the Synoptic Gospels
(2011) and Unlocking the Puzzle: The Structure and Christology
of the Original Gospel of Mark (2016).