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Document Details :

Title: The Fool’s Speech and Its Context
Subtitle: Paul’s Particular Way of Arguing in 2 Cor 10-13
Author(s): LAMBRECHT, Jan
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 82    Issue: 3   Date: 2001   
Pages: 305-324
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.82.3.3200391

Abstract :
Paul’s particular way of arguing in 2 Cor 10-13 is visible in the Fool’s Speech (11,22-12,10) as well as in its context. The speech is interrupted more than once and there are shifts regarding the object of boasting. The introduction to the speech (11,1-21) is not straightforward and two brief retrospections (12,11a and 19a) should not go unnoticed. The major topic in this study, however, consists in the indication of three rings within the context of the Fool’s Speech: (1) 10,1 and 13,11 (moral exhortation); (2) 10,2-18 and 13,1-10 (Paul’s defense of his authority); (3) 11,5-12 and 12,11b-18 (Paul denies inferiority). Yet from the presence of these enveloping rings a strict concentric structure of 2 Cor 11-13 cannot be deduced. Special attention must also be given to 10,8.12-18 and 11,3-4.12-15.18-20. In these passages Paul, by comparing and attacking, seems to prepare his boasting as a fool in a more direct way.

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