Apostle of Persuasion: Theology and Rhetoric in the Pauline Letters
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
This book is the culmination of a career of researching and teaching Paul’s letters. Highly respected senior New Testament scholar James Thompson offers a unique approach to Pauline theology, focusing on Paul’s attempts to persuade his audience toward moral formation. Thompson recognizes Paul as a pastor who brought together theology and rhetoric to encourage spiritual formation in his communities. Attempts to find total consistency in Paul’s writings fail, says Thompson, because Paul’s persuasive tactics changed depending on the situation he was addressing.
- Focuses on Paul’s attempts to persuade his audience toward moral formation
- Examines the use of persuasion and theology in all the letters of Paul
- Offers a unique approach to Pauline theology
- Introduction: Rhetoric and Theology in Paul
- The Rhetoric of Paul’s Letters
- Paul and the Pharisaic Tradition
- Where Christian Theology Began: Jesus and the Early Church
- Paul’s Ethos and His Theology
- First Thessalonians: A Template for Theological Reflection
- Christology and Persuasion
- Greco-Roman Values and the Theology of the Cross: The Corinthian Correspondence
- The Theology of the Cross and Justification by Faith
- Romans, the Righteousness of God, and the Defense of Paul’s Ministry
- “Seek the Things That Are Above”: Persuasion in Colossians and Ephesians
- Pauline Theology and Rhetoric in the Pastoral Epistles
- Conclusion: Paul’s Pastoral Theology
James Thompson has written an unprecedented book in which he declares that Paul wrote his letters so as to present a transformed people to Christ at the end. Paul’s purpose was not so much to set out theological insight but to persuade believers from the foundation of theological commitments. Thompson insists that it is imperative to scrutinize the epistles from the standpoint of Greco-Roman rhetoric, and he assesses persuasion and theology in all the letters of Paul, both undisputed and disputed, focusing mainly on arrangement and invention. He addresses some of the major historical controversies in Pauline studies and employs many scholars as interlocutors. I recommend highly this exceptional study for upper-level courses in Pauline exegesis and theology.
—Thomas H. Olbricht, distinguished professor emeritus of religion, Pepperdine University
- Title: Apostle of Persuasion: Theology and Rhetoric in the Pauline Letters
- Author: James W. Thompson
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2020
- Pages: 320
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Pauline Studies
James W. Thompson (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is scholar in residence at the Graduate School of Theology at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. He is the editor of Restoration Quarterly and the author of numerous books, including Moral Formation according to Paul, Pastoral Ministry according to Paul, The Church according to Paul, and Hebrews in the Paideia commentary series.