Constructing the World: An Exegetical and Socio-Rhetorical Analysis of Paul’s Uses of ‘World’ and ‘Creation’

Abstract

This study investigates how Paul uses the terms κóσμoδ; and κτισιδ to construct the social worlds of his readers. Previous treatments of this terminology in Paul are shown to have been inattentive to the question of how far social factors might have affected his usage. This neglected issue forms the focus of concern in the present inquiry. After surveying the historical and semantic background of κóσμoδ; and κτισιδ, Paul's uses of the terms are examined in their epistolary settings. Each epistolary usage is interpreted against the background of the community situation which is being addressed and within the context of the socio-rhetorical strategy deployed by Paul to achieve his social goals in writing. Our analysis reaches the following conclusions: 1. Paul's largely negative and defamiliarizing usage of κóσμoδ in 1 Corinthians forms part of a socio-rhetorical strategy aimed at strengthening the boundaries between the Christian group and the macrosociety in Corinth in the light of a perceived situation of social and ideological compromise. 2. Paul's uses of κóσμoδ; and κτισιδ in Romans help to underline the non-socially-subversive character of Christianity, a theme prominent in the paraenesis of Rom 12:14-13:10. This usage and underlying social concern may be understood against a background of mounting conflict with outsiders in Rome and the increasing vulnerability of the Roman congregations to repressive actions by the political author i ties. 3. In response to the attempts of the "agitators" to impose a Jewish lifestyle on his converts in Galatia, in the Galatian letter, Paul uses κóσμoδ the term καινn κτισιδ polemically to stress the separation of the Gentile churches from the Jewish community. By means of socio-rhetorical analysis of the texts and careful elucidation of the community situations, a case is made that Paul's uses of κóσμoδ and κτισιδ form important building-blocks in his constructions of the world.