Evaluating the Rhetoric of Paul’s Letter to Philemon: Implications for Master-Slave Relationship in Christian Households
Issue: Vol.7 No.3 March 2021 Issue Article 1 pp. 46-60
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.2021731 | Published online 3rd March 2021.
© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Rhetoric, 1st Century Greco-Roman context, master-slave relationship, Christianity, appropriation
Aland, Barbara and Kurt, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.
Anum, Eric N. B. “Exploring Religious and Ethnic Boundaries: A Contextual Bible Study of Matthew 5:13-20.”Journal of African Biblical Studies 2 (2009): 54.
Aristotle. Art of Rhetoric. Translated by H. Rackham, LCL 73. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Barclay, John M. G. “Paul, Philemon and the Dilemma of Christian Slave-Ownership.” New Testament Studies 37 (1991): 161–86.
Barth, Markus and Helmut Blanke, The Letter to Philemon. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000.
Bitzer, Lloyd F. “The rhetorical situation.” Philosophy and Rhetoric, 1 (1968): 7.
Brown, K. Jeannine. Scripture as Communication. Introducing Biblical Hermeneutics. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007.
Callahan, Allen Dwight. “John Chrysostom on Philemon: A Response to Margaret M. Mitchell.” Harvard Theological Review 88 (1995):149–56.
______. “Paul’s Epistle to Philemon: Toward an Alternative Argumentum.” Harvard Theological Review 86 (1993):57–76.
______. Embassy of Onesimus: The Letter of Paul to Philemon. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1997.
Chrysostom, John. “Homilies of St John Chrysostom on the Epistle of St Paul the Apostle to Philemon.” In A SelectLibrary of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, edited by Peter Schaff, 545–57. New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889.
Church, Forrester F. “Rhetorical Structure and Design in Paul’s Letter to Philemon.” Harvard Theological Review 71 (1978): 17.
Cicero. De Oratore and De Partitione Oratoria. Translated by E. W. Sutton and H. Rackham.Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965.
Creswell, John W. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. London, UK: Sage Publications Limited.
Dunn, James D. G. The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon. Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1996.
Feeley-Harnik, Gillian. “Is Historical Anthropology Possible? The Case of the Runaway Slave.” In Humanizing America’s Iconic Book, edited by Gene M. Tucker and Douglas A. Knight 95–126. California: Scholars Press, 1982.
Fitzmyer, Joseph A. The Letter to Philemon. Doubleday: New York, 2000.
Glancy, Jennifer A. “The Utility of an Apostle: On Philemon 11.” Journal of Early Christian History, 5, no.1 (2015): 79.
______. “Slavery and the Rise of Christianity.” In The Cambridge World History of Slavery, edited by Keith Bradley & Paul Cartledge, 468-4881. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Harris, Murray J. Slave of Christ: A New Testament Metaphor for Total Devotion to Christ. Leicester: Apollos, 1999.
Holmes, Michael W. The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1999.
Hopkins, Keith. Conquerors and Slaves. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.
Horsely, Richard A. “A Critical Alternative to Recent Readings.” Slavery in Text and Interpretation. (1998): 153–200.
Jeal, Roy R. Exploring Philemon: Freedom, brotherhood and partnership in the new society. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015.
Kennedy, George A. New Testament interpretation through rhetorical criticism. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
Knox, John. Philemon among the Letters of Paul: A New View of its place and importance. Nashville: Abingdon, 1963.
Koester, Helmut. Introduction to the New Testament: History and Literature of Early Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982).
Lampe, Peter. “Keine “Sklavenflucht” des Onesimus.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 76 (1985):135–37.
Lohse, Edward. Colossians and Philemon, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971.
Lokkesmoe, Ryan. “Finding Onesimus: Recovering the Story of a First-Century Fugitive Slave.” Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015.
Longenecker, Richard N. New Wine into Fresh Wineskins: Contextualising the Early Christian Confessions. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999.
Marchal, Joseph A. “The Usefulness of an Onesimus: The Sexual Use of Slaves and Paul’s Letter to Philemon.” Journal of Biblical Literature 130, no. 4 (2001): 749-770.
Martin, Clarice J. “The Rhetorical Function of Commercial Language in Paul’s Letter to Philemon (Verse 18).” In Persuasive Artistry: Studies in New Testament Rhetoric in Honour of George A. Kennedy, edited by Duane F.Watson, 321 37. London: JSOT Press, 1991.
McKnight, Scot. The letter to Philemon, NICNT. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Press, 2017.
Mitchell, Margaret M. “John Chrysostom on Philemon: A Second Look.” Harvard Theological Review 88 (1995): 135–48.
Moo, Douglas I. The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, (Norton Street, Nottingham: Apollos, 2008.
Nordling, John D. “Onesimus fugitivus. A Defense of the Runaway Slave Hypothesis in Philemon.” JSNT, 41 (1991):97-119.
O’Brien, Peter T. Introductory Thanksgivings in the Letters of Paul. Leiden: Brill, 1977.
Olinger, Danny. “A redemptive-historical consideration of Philemon.” NWTS 12, no. 1 (1977): 23-32.
Petersen, Norman R. Rediscovering Paul: Philemon and the Sociology of Paul’s Narrative World. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Translated by H. E. Butler, LCL. Cambridge: Harvard university Press, 1920.
Rapske, Brian M. “The Prisoner Paul in the Eyes of Onesimus.” New Testament Studies 37 (1991): 187–203.
Russell, David M. “The Strategy of a First-Century Appeals Letter: A Discourse Reading of Paul’s Epistle to Philemon.” Journal of Translation and Textlinguistics 11 (1998): 1–25.
Scott, Bartchy S. “Philemon, Epistle to.” ABD 5 (1992): 305–310.
Thiselton, C. Anthony. Hermeneutics: An introduction. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.
Ukpong, Justin. “Developments in Biblical Interpretation in Africa: Historical and Hermeneutical Directions.” In The Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajectories and Trends, edited by G. O. West and M. Dube, 12-45. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2000.
Wansink, Craig S. Chained in Christ: The Experience and Rhetoric of Paul’s Imprisonment. England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996.
Winter, Sara B. C. “Methodological Observations on a New Interpretation of Paul’s Letter to Philemon.” Union Seminary Quarterly Review 39 (1984): 203–212.
______. “Paul’s Letter to Philemon.” New Testament Studies, 33, (1987): 5.
Witherington, Ben. The letters to Philemon, the Colossians and the Ephesians: A socio-rhetorical commentary on the Captivity Epistles. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.
Wright, Nicholas T. The Epistles of Paul to the Colossians and Philemon. Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 1986.
Maxwell Kojo Tsibu is a PhD candidate at the Department of Religion and Human Values. He holds B.Ed. and Master of Philosophy degrees from the same Department at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). He is a Tutor at the Methodist College of Education, Akyem Asene-Aboabo, Oda- Eastern Region – Ghana.
Tsibu M.K., “Evaluating the Rhetoric of Paul’s Letter to Philemon: Implications for Master-Slave Relationship in Christian Households” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies, 7 no.3 (2021): 46-60 https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.2021731
© 2021 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).