Sarcasm in Paul’s Letters

Provides an extensive analysis of sarcasm in Paul's letters, illuminated by case studies on Septuagint Job, the prophets, and Lucian of Samosata.

Matthew Pawlak (Author)

9781009271912, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 December 2022

300 pages
22.3 x 14.5 x 2.3 cm, 0.51 kg

'Matthew Pawlak's work, Sarcasm in Paul's Letters, fills a lacuna in Pauline scholarship. Recognizing sarcasm is vital for our interpretation of a text and Pawlak provides a working model for understanding this challenging, but essential, topic, and how it was signalled by ancient Greek authors. With detailed investigations of controversial passages, Pawlak provides new and fresh readings that challenge established arguments. This is an important contribution and warrants consideration by both biblical scholars and classicists.' Sean Adams, Professor of New Testament and Ancient Culture, University of Glasgow

In this book, Matthew Pawlak offers the first treatment of sarcasm in New Testament studies. He provides an extensive analysis of sarcastic passages across the undisputed letters of Paul, showing where Paul is sarcastic, and how his sarcasm affects our understanding of his rhetoric and relationships with the Early Christian congregations in Galatia, Rome, and Corinth. Pawlak's identification of sarcasm is supported by a dataset of 400 examples drawn from a broad range of ancient texts, including major case studies on Septuagint Job, the prophets, and Lucian of Samosata. These data enable the determination of the typical linguistic signals of sarcasm in ancient Greek, as well as its rhetorical functions. Pawlak also addresses several ongoing discussions in Pauline scholarship. His volume advances our understanding of the abrupt opening of Galatians, diatribe and Paul's hypothetical interlocutor in Romans, the 'Corinthian slogans' of First Corinthians, and the 'fool's speech' found within Second Corinthians 10-13.

Introduction
Part I. What is Sarcasm? How is Sarcasm Expressed? What Does Sarcasm Do?: 1. Method, defining sarcasm, and the scope of the project
2. Sarcasm in the septuagint: with special reference to Job and the prophets
3. Sarcasm in Ancient Greek texts: with special reference to Lucian
Part II. Sarcasm in Paul's Letters: 4. Sarcasm in Galatians
5. Sarcasm in Romans: with special reference to diatribe and voice
6. Sarcasm in First Corinthians
7. Sarcasm (and asteismos) in Second Corinthians
9. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG], Linguistics [CF]