Sat Apr 27 13:49:01 1996

From majordom  Sat Apr 27 13:49:01 1996
Return-Path: 
Received: by scholar.cc.emory.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4)
	id AA00608; Sat, 27 Apr 1996 13:49:01 +0500
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 1996 13:46:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: Maurice Robinson 
To: tc-list@scholar.cc.emory.edu
Subject: Re: archetype (Corpus Paulinum) 
Message-Id: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Length: 3842
Sender: owner-tc-list@scholar.cc.emory.edu
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: tc-list@scholar.cc.emory.edu


Trying again, since this post got bounced the first time:

On Thu, 25 Apr 1996 schmiul@uni-muenster.de wrote:

> On Thu, 4 April 1996, Maurice Robinson wrote:
 
>>Remember Tertullian's appeal in his Prescription against 
>>Heretics -- you are to go to the various churches to which the apostles 
>>themselves wrote, and from there to assemble the "authenticae litterae" 
>>in order to refute heretical corruption.  The evidence certainly seems 
>>to point to church archives as the basis for the Pauline corpus rather than 
>>individuals.

> In apologetical contexts Tertullian often appeals to "objective" facts which 
> could be checked if required. For example in _adverus Marcionem IV 7,7_ he 
> refers to the "census Augusti, which the Roman registry still has in keeping 
> (Romana archiva custodiunt), a most faithful witness to our Lord's nativity" 

I do not object to the fact that Tertullian often spoke in hyperbole or
may have made suggestions which seemed plausible enough to him, even if
the likelihood of actuality might be slim or non-existent.  However, in
the case of this census, Evans may go too far in assuming that Roman
census records of 250 years previous would no longer be available in
some Roman archive or depository.  The fact that we do not have such today
says little about what the state of such records may have been in the
mid-third century (pencil-pushing bureaucrats continue to exist in every 
age); though I would suspect that records relating to non-Roman citizens 
would be the least likely to be preserved for a long time.

> So, Tertullian's appeal to the "authenticae litterae" of the apostles 
> writings in various church archieves too seems to be nothing more than 
> conjecture on his side based on the plausibility of church bureaucracy. 

I have no doubt that Tertullian never verified this claim for himself. 
Whether he relied in any way upon the testimony of others is of course
uncertain.  Note, however, that I do _not_ think Tertullian is claiming
the existence of the _autographs_ in the mid-third century, but only of
"authentic copies" of the autographs which would be preserved most
accurately in the specific churches to which the various epistles had been
sent.  This view remains wholly plausible, so long as those churches
continued to exist, even during periods of persecution, since the
collective memory of a scripture text addressed to their specific church
in the mind of a persecuted people would remain strong, and also continue 
as a basis for reconstruction of that text at a later period, even if 
interim MSS may have been seized or destroyed.  (I would still strongly 
contend for the survival of at least some copies hidden during even the 
worst of the persecutions, so this latter scenario is not the primary 
case being made).

> His appeal 
> serves the same purpose than his appeal to census records: referring to 
> plausible "objective" facts, while knowing that no one would travel to Rome 
> and all the other churches in order to verify or falsify his claim. 

There is no doubt that in the polemic context of the Prescription against 
Heretics that Tertullian would not seriously expect his opponents to 
travel far and wide merely to verify this point.  However, I _do_ think 
Tertullian fully expected his opponents to concede the likelihood of the 
accuracy of his point, just as in the situation of the Roman census 
records, which both sides would probably have allowed to exist in Rome, 
even if neither side could actually go there and read them.

_________________________________________________________________________
Maurice A. Robinson, Ph.D.           Assoc. Prof./Greek and New Testament
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary     Wake Forest, North Carolina
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back