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3 Monotheism in Paul' S Rhetorical W Orld 3 Monotheism in Paul' s Rhetorical W orld To investigate the eontribution of the seleeted text, 2 Cor 3:16-4:6, to early discourse about Jesus Christ, we will seek to establish its first-een­ tury theologie al eontext. Sinee the text speaks about God and relates Jesus to God in signifieant ways, we must examine what the author, Paul, a praetieing Jew of the first eentury, believed and assumed about God. From his writings, it is apparent that he shared and appealed to the fun­ damental Jewish tenet of monotheism. Beeause this eoneept has founda­ tional signifieanee for our study, we will doeument and diseuss it in some detail, first looking at the broader first-eentury religious eontext and then examining Seeond Temple Judaism. Pagan Monotheism Most people in the Mediterranean world of the first eentury C.E. were polytheists. On a philosophieallevel some thought in terms of the unity of the divine nature, but on a praetieal level they aeknowledged the worship of many gods in the world. Some dedieated themselves to the worship of one god, but in these eases it would generally be more aeeu­ rate to deseribe them as henotheists rather than monotheists. Versnel deseribed two pagan deities for whom claims of eosmie lord­ ship and universal worship were made, Isis and Dionysos, noting that they were new types of gods and not typieal of the aneient Greek gods. 1 The Bacchae, a play by Euripides produeed in Athens in 405 B.C.E., pre­ sents Dionysos as a foreign god who demanded reverenee by everyone. It thus sets up a classie eonfliet between the soeio-politieal eommunity and the challenge of a new god and between institutional religion and a deviant seet. (Paul dealt with this potential eonfliet in preaehing to Jews and God-fearers by explaining that Jesus was not a new god but the manifestation of the God they already worshiped.) Similarly, trom the 1 Versnel, Ter Unus, 189-90. 54 The Glory '?! God in the Face,?!Jesus Christ third or second century B.C.E., but possibly later, devotees of Isis de­ scribed her as the one god who gives salvation, liberates humanity from cosmic despots, and encompasses all other gods in her one person. From the first centuries C.E., especially from the second century, they consid­ ered her as victorious over fate and as the tyrant of those she liberated.2 Athanassiadi and Frede cited evidence for the prevalence of mono­ theism: "God being one, has many names" (Ps.-Aristotle 401.12); "The gods have one nature but many names" (Maxentius ofTyre 39.5); and the goddess Isis is "the uniform face of all gods and goddesses" (Apuleius, Metam. 11.15).3 The last example is from a statement by Isis in a second­ century C.E. Latin novel: I come, ... I, mother of the universe, mistress of aII the elements, first-born of the ages, highest of the gods, queen of the shades, first of those who dwell in heaven, representing in one shape aII gods and goddesses. My will controls the shining heights ofheaven, the health-giving sea-winds, and the mourn­ ful silences of hell; the entire world worships my single godhead in a thou­ sand shapes, with divers rites, and under many a different name. Honour me with the worship which is truly mine and caII me by my tme name: Queen Isis. (Apuleius, Metam. 11.15 [Kenney]). While we see a monotheistic impulse, we should also note a syncre­ tism allowing the worship of other gods as subordinates or manifestations of Isis. By contrast, first-century Judaism and Christianity, while not denying the existence of other supernatural beings, denied that they should be worshiped or were manifestations of the true God. We could perhaps identifY these respective views as a contrast between henotheism and monotheism. Indeed, the work contains a henotheistic protest against monotheism, perhaps directed against Jews or even Christians: "worse still, she had rejected and spurned the heavenly gods, and in place of true religion she had falsely and blasphemously set up a deity of her own whom she proclaimed as the One and Only God" (Metam. 9.14). We find a similar example in Acts 19, where the worshipers of Artemis in Ephesus opposed Paul's preaching ofJesus. As Versnel noted, both were henotheistic attempts to stop an invading monotheism. 4 In classical times, then, the exclusive devotion to one god was restricted to marginal groups. Henotheism - the confession, worship, and exaltation of one God while accepting the possible existence of other gods - was not a structural religious or cultic phenomenon, but it became common in later religious thought.s 2 Versnel, Ter Unus, 49-51, 88, 92. 3 Athanassiadi and Frede, "Introduction," in Athanassiadi and Frede, Pagan Monolhe­ ism in Laie Anliquity, 8. 4 Versnel, Ter Unus, 195. 5 Versnel, Ter Unus, 194. .
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