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Ancient Rhetoric and Paul's Apology: The Compositional Unity of 2 Corinthians
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 2006 by Grindheim, Sigurd
Ancient Rhetoric and Paul's Apology: The Compositional Unity of 2 Corinthians. By Fredrick J. Long. SNTSMS 131. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, xix + 291 pp., $80.00.
In this book, Fredrick Long sets out to do for 2 Corinthians what Margaret Mitchell did for 1 Corinthians with her book Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation (Westminster John Knox, 1991). As Mitchell demonstrated the unity of 1 Corinthians by comparing it to known examples of deliberative rhetoric, Long compares 2 Corinthians to the many surviving speeches of the forensic genus. He thereby aims to demonstrate the integrity of the letter, based on its conventional rhetorical structure (p. 5). (In the meantime, Margaret Mitchell has argued for a complex partition theory for 2 Corinthians.)
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A revision of the author's doctoral dissertation under Carol Stockhausen at Marquette University, Long's book begins with a thorough introduction to the genus of forensic rhetoric. His investigation is not limited to the rhetorical handbooks, but draws on the actual known Greco-Roman examples of speeches that were delivered in a forensic setting. Not written as a textbook, this comprehensive survey (chaps. 2-6) will not serve the beginner, but for those already familiar with rhetorical criticism it is a very helpful overview of forensic rhetoric.
In a recent monograph, which also argues for the unity of 2 Corinthians, David Hall has suggested that "the tearful letter" (2 Cor 2:4) was 1 Corinthians and that there was no intermediate visit between the writing of the two letters. (2 Cor 2:1 must refer to an earlier visit.) Long holds the same position (p. 123), but he does not really engage the vast majority of scholars who have found this reconstruction to be impossible.
In 2 Cor 12:19 Paul says: "All along you have been thinking that we have been defending ourselves to you." Without argument, Long assumes, against most interpreters, that Paul approves of this impression (pp. 118, 191), and he maintains that 2 Corinthians is an apologetic letter. Paul defends himself against two basic charges: he was fickle with respect to his intended visits to Corinth, and he made use of worldly rhetoric (not practicing what he preached in 1 Corinthians). In addition, Long mentions the accusation of financial dishonesty, as Paul refused the patronage of the Corinthians, while some Corinthians thought he was using the collection to Jerusalem for his own gain. Having thus established the letter's exigency (chap. 7), Long continues to discuss its disposition (chap. 8) and invention (chap. 9). A chapter on the rhetoric of 2 Corinthians and Paul's theology rounds off the volume.
The appeal of Long's work is that he has one explanation that accounts for the entire letter. He detects a conventional rhetorical outline that accounts for all its individual parts. The main argument (probatio, 2:1-9:15) is even anticipated in the introduction to the letter (divisio acndpartitio, 1:17-24), where all the subsections of the probatio are sequentially introduced. Long draws attention to the problems other scholars have had in making sense of this introduction as a logically connected unit (pp. 161-62). If it is not such a unit, however, but rather a preview of the main parts of the letter, Long is able to solve these problems.
Not all scholars will be convinced that the arguments in 2:17-3:18, for example, are foreshadowed in 1:18-20. The terms "word" and "Christ" are too general to make the case, and the profound discussion of the glory of his ministry in 3:7-11,18 is hardly anticipated by the mere use of the word "glory" in 1:20 (p. 158). More importantly, with his very specific definition of the letter's exigency, Long does not really explain Paul's rhetorical purposes in emphasizing the superiority of his ministry as compared to that of Moses, except that his "special relationship to the new covenant reflects well on him" (p. 167).
Long admits that the connection between 1:23 and 5:11-7:1 is the least obvious. He finds the connection in the theme of covenant faithfulness, which is introduced by the witness motif in 1:23. Looking for the resumption of this theme, Long focuses exclusively on 6:14-7:1 (which many other scholars identify as a fragment of a separate letter). The premise of this passage is the idea of covenant between God and Israel, especially as it is developed in Isaiah 40-55, where the concept of God as a witness is important.
The next major section of 2 Corinthians, chapters 8-9, with the exhortations to continue the collection for Jerusalem, is often thought not to be well integrated into the flow of the letter. Long maintains that the section has been anticipated in 1:24 and that the collection represents an opportunity for the Corinthians to be Paul's coworkers.
Perhaps the most troublesome section of 2 Corinthians for those who argue for its unity is chapters 10-13. Long finds these chapters to fit neatly into the pattern of forensic rhetoric and defines them as refutatio (10:1-11:15), self-adulation (11:16-12:10), and peroratio (12:11-13:10). On this reading, he is able to account for the sudden change of tone in 10:1, as Paul has now completed his main argument in his own defense and turns directly against his opponents.
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