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Document Details : Title: Paul and the Missionary Discourse Author(s): ALLISON, D.C. Jr. Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 61 Issue: 4 Date: December 1985 Pages: 369-375 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.61.4.556288 Abstract : In an article published in 1982 in New Testament Studies, I attempted to break new ground in the old debate concerning Paul's knowledge of the Jesus tradition. I argued at length that the apostle was familiar with several presynoptic blocks of material - with the sources behind Mk 9,33-50 and behind Lk 6,27-38, with an early form of Jesus' words to missionaries (Mk 6,6-13/Mt 10,1-16/Lk 9,1-6/Lk 10, 1-12), with a passion narrative, and, just perhaps, with the sequence of dialogues preserved in Mk 12,1-40. Whether or not my thesis will stand the test of time is not yet manifest. But in a recent issue of this journal, C.M. Tuckett has taken me to the task at one crucial point. In his judgement, I must be faulted for having affirmed Paul's acquaintance with a missionary discourse. His conclusion is this: 'The theory that Paul knew the mission discourse in a form akin to its present form in the synoptics is ... weak. All that seems certain is that Paul knew and used one saying, the workman saying, from this discourse. But there is no solid evidence to show that Paul knew the wider context in which that saying is now set in the synoptic tradition'. Because the problem of Paul's relationship to Jesus is so crucial for New Testament theology, and because Tuckett's arguments have not moved me to change my mind, I would like in this essay to respond to his critique. |
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