'Vergeblich bemüht’ (Gal 4.11)?: Zur paulinischen Argumentationsstrategie im Galaterbrief

Abstract

The widespread assumption that Paul's letter to the Galatians can be analysed in terms derived from the classical Greek and Roman rhetoric theorists has increasingly become doubtful. Above all it is challenged by the fact that the ancient theorists themselves made a clear distinction between oral speech and epistolography. However, the principal value of the rhetorical approach must not totally be denied. The absence of the addressees forced Paul to develop a strategy of argumentation based on elementary advices of rhetoric rules with which he was acquainted. Thus he tried to affirm the threatened state of the Galatian churches as εκκλησιαι and to prevent them from turning to a different gospel proclaimed by his opponents.