[B-Greek] Ro 7.7-25: autobiography or speech in character?

Daniel Glick lists at danielglick.com
Wed Mar 5 23:52:28 EST 2003


Greetings, all; I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks and have a 
question I would appreciate some input on. It's more a matter of 
rhetoric than of grammar or semantics, but it's not a question of 
theology; so I hope it falls within the subject of the list.

While researching an unrelated topic, I ran across an article by Stanley 
K. Stowers entitled "Romans 7.7-25 as a Speech-in-Character 
(PROSWPOPOIIA)." (_Paul in his Hellenistic Context_, ed. Troels 
Engberg-Pedersen, pp 180-202.) Stowers argues that Paul's speech in Ro 7 
about the conflict between the law of the mind and the law of the flesh 
is not actually a description of his own struggles, but rather the 
standard Greco-Latin rhetorical device of proswpopoiia, speaking in the 
character of a gentile who has gone from paganism to Judaism to 
Christianity.

Stowers' hypothesis initially seems persuasive. It answers several 
questions, such as why Paul speaks of living apart from law (v9), when 
he was raised in Judaism; and why he would speak of being captive to sin 
in his members, when he elsewhere calls himself "as respects 
righteousness that is by means of law, one who proved himself blameless" 
(Phil 3:6). Stowers also presents patristic sources, including Origen 
and Jerome, that reach similar conclusions.

However, Stowers' argument fails on one key point: he does not present 
any evidence of the use of implicit proswpopoiia in written, 
non-narrative texts. As far as I am aware, whenever proswpopoiia is used 
in non-narrative texts (e.g. philosophical dialogs), the non-authorial 
voices are introduced explicitly. I find it hard to believe that Paul 
would introduce a non-authorial voice in an epistle without explicit 
indication.

So I'd appreciate the opinion of those who have more experience reading 
Greek texts than I do (which would be everybody here :->). Does it seem 
plausible or probable to you that Paul is speaking "in character" here?

Thanks,
Dan Glick
Queens, NY



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