WHERE IS THE WISE MAN? GRAECO-ROMAN EDUCATION AS A BACKGROUND TO THE DIVISIONS IN 1 CORINTHIANS 1–4 ADAM GRAHAM WHITE BTh (Hnrs) This thesis is presented for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY Department of Ancient History 25th April 2013 Word Count: 82,500 ii iii CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. IX STATEMENT OF THE CANDIDATE .................................................................................. XI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... XIII ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................ XV CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 THE PROBLEM OF TERMINOLOGY ...................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Kata/rtisij ............................................................................................................... 4 1.1.2 “Christian Paidei/a” as a NT concept ...................................................................... 5 1.1.3 Other Issues of Terminology ...................................................................................... 7 1.2 FRAMING THE INVESTIGATION ........................................................................................... 9 1.2.1 Methodology and Thesis Summary ............................................................................ 9 1.2.2 Chapter Summaries .................................................................................................. 11 PART 1: SETTING THE SCENE ............................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................. 15 2.1 GROUND BREAKERS: MUNCK AND JUDGE ....................................................................... 15 2.2 ARGUMENTS FOR ORATORY ............................................................................................. 18 2.2.1 Bruce Winter ............................................................................................................ 20 2.3 ARGUMENTS FOR PHILOSOPHY ........................................................................................ 21 2.3.1 Stanley Stowers ........................................................................................................ 23 2.3.2 Thomas Schmeller .................................................................................................... 25 2.3.3 F. Gerald Downing .................................................................................................. 26 2.3.4 Graham Tomlin ........................................................................................................ 27 2.3.5 John Fitzgerald ........................................................................................................ 28 2.3.6 Terence Paige .......................................................................................................... 29 2.3.7 Tim Brookins ............................................................................................................ 29 2.3.8 A More General Approach: Robert Dutch .............................................................. 31 CHAPTER 3: PAIDEI/A AND ENCULTURATION .............................................................. 34 3.1 PAIDEI/A: CULTURE AND ETHICS ...................................................................................... 35 3.1.1 Paidei/a as a Virtue in Inscriptions ........................................................................ 37 3.1.1.1 Inscriptions from the Peloponnese ....................................................................... 37 3.1.1.2 Inscriptions from Elsewhere ................................................................................. 38 3.1.1.3 Sofi/a in Inscriptions ........................................................................................... 38 3.1.1.4 Four Key Inscriptions ........................................................................................... 39 3.1.2 Paidei/a as a Virtue in Literary Sources ................................................................. 41 3.1.2.1 Education and the Divine ..................................................................................... 42 3.1.3 A Case Study from the Peloponnese ........................................................................ 43 3.1.4 Summary .................................................................................................................. 44 3.2 THE GYMNASIUM OF VIRTUE ........................................................................................... 45 3.2.1 The Gymnasiarch as an Ethical Exemplum ............................................................. 47 3.2.1.1 Gymnasiarchs in Inscriptions ............................................................................... 48 3.2.2 Summary .................................................................................................................. 49 3.3 PAIDEI/A AND EDUCATIONAL THEORY: CLASSICAL THEORISTS ....................................... 50 iv 3.3.1 Plato ......................................................................................................................... 50 3.3.2 Aristotle .................................................................................................................... 53 3.3.3 Isocrates ................................................................................................................... 55 3.3.4 Summary .................................................................................................................. 57 3.4 EDUCATIONAL THEORY IN THE EARLY EMPIRE ............................................................... 57 3.4.1 Ps.-Plutarch and Quintilian ..................................................................................... 58 3.4.2 E)gku/klioj Paidei/a ................................................................................................ 60 3.4.3 Philosophy in the Empire ......................................................................................... 62 3.4.4 Oratory in the Empire .............................................................................................. 64 3.4.5 Summary .................................................................................................................. 65 3.5 GRAECO-ROMAN PAIDEI/A AND THE REVIVAL OF CLASSICAL TIMES ............................... 65 3.5.1 Atticism .................................................................................................................... 65 3.5.2 Atticism and Hellenisation ....................................................................................... 67 3.5.3 Atticism and Augustus’ “Moral Revolution” .......................................................... 68 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 4: PRELIMINARY ISSUES ................................................................................. 71 4.1 SOCIAL STATUS AND WEALTH IN THE FIRST CENTURY .................................................... 71 4.1.1 A Picture of Corinth ................................................................................................. 72 4.1.2 Education and Social Mobility in Corinth ............................................................... 76 4.2 WERE THERE ANY EDUCATED CORINTHIAN CHRISTIANS? .............................................. 77 4.2.1 A Response to Friesen’s “Poverty Scale” ............................................................... 77 4.2.2 Assumptions about the Corinthian Christians ......................................................... 83 4.3 WAS PAUL EDUCATED? ................................................................................................... 84 4.3.1 A Portrait of Paul .................................................................................................... 86 4.4 A PROPOSED SCENARIO ................................................................................................... 87 4.4.1 Competition and Paul’s Detractors ......................................................................... 88 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 89 PART 2: PAUL’S DEFENCE OF HIS STYLE ....................................................................... 91 CHAPTER 5: CHRIST AND THE WISE MAN ..................................................................... 93 5.1 THE WISE MAN ................................................................................................................ 94 5.1.1 Paidei/a and the Wise Man ..................................................................................... 94 5.1.2 The Orator as the Wise Man .................................................................................... 96 5.1.3 Philosophy and the Wise Man ................................................................................. 98 5.1.3.1 The Wise Man According to Seneca ..................................................................... 98 5.1.3.2 The Wise Man According to Epictetus 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