Ancient Rhetoric and Paul's Apology
The Compositional Unity of 2 Corinthians

Second Corinthians is Paul's apology to the Corinthians for failing to visit them, using rhetorical persuasion in his letters, and appearing unapproved for the collection. The scholarly consensus maintains that 2 Corinthians is a conglomeration of letters due to its literary and logistical inconsistencies. Consequently, most interpretations of 2 Corinthians treat only parts of it. However, a different consensus is emerging. Fredrick Long situates the text within Classical literary and rhetorical conventions and argues for its unity based upon numerous parallels with ancient apology in the tradition of Andocides, Socrates, Isocrates and Demosthenes. He provides a comprehensive survey and rigorous genre analysis of ancient forensic discourse in support of his claims, and shows how the unified message of Paul's letter can be recovered. His study will be of relevance to Classicists and New Testament scholars alike.

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Review of the hardback: '… crisply written and admirably clear … This is a thorough and well-written book and deserves to be taken seriously. It makes a cogent and significant contribution to the development of rhetorical criticism of the New Testament.' Reviews in Religion and Theology

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Product details

• Date Published: September 2008
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9780521078955
• length: 312 pages

• dimensions: 224 x 144 x 18 mm
• weight: 0.3kg
• contains: 36 tables
• availability: Available