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In
the Steps of the Moralists:
Prof.
Rollin Ramsaran
This paper explores Paul’s rhetoric from the perspective of Hellenistic moralist traditions (analogous to the use of handbook rhetoric or apocalyptic rhetoric). In the first section, a preliminary and tentative (with respect to completeness) compendium of rhetorical strategies found among moralists is advanced. In the second section, Paul’s letter to the Philippians as a whole is examined with respect to “defacing the currency” (Cynic rhetoric) and exemplification. Paul uses these strategies to define the believing community away from the imperial ideology of Rome and toward a new constitution directed by Jesus from heaven (Phil 3:20). The final and most substantive section of the paper concerns itself with how a community whose citizenship is antithetical to the prevailing empire can find contentment and stability in a context in which they cannot control external factors such as threats and persecution. Phil 4:3-23 is examined according to the moralist strategies of the theme of joy, reminders, philophronetic language, the pattern of moral growth, bona cogitare, exemplification, inner detachment, and the use of a maxim.
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