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Concord & Peace
A Rhetorical Analysis of the First Letter of Clement
with an Emphasis on the Language of Unity & Sedition

By Odd Magne Bakke
December 2001
J.C.B. Mohr
ISBN: 3161476379
405 pages
$117.50 paper original

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Odd Magne Bakke analyses the rhetoric of the First Letter of Clement. He provides new suggestions and demonstrates both the thematic and argumentative unity of this letter.

Odd Magne Bakke presents the first in-depth study of 1 Clement from the standpoint of the letter's rhetoric. He bases his methodological analysis on tools from the Graeco-Roman rhetorical tradition, using both the handbooks as well as actual speeches and letters. These are supplemented by tools from modern text linguistics, which the author uses to do a compositional analysis of the letter, and by the tools of modern semantics, used to establish the language of concord in 1 Clement which it has in common with other relevant ancient literature. The author's approach constitutes a fresh reading of 1 Clement and provides new suggestions on several important issues in the immense research on the letter. He demonstrates both the thematic and argumentative unity of the letter. Its macro-structure reflects the conventional parts of the dispositio of ancient rhetoric (exordium, narratio, probatio, peroratio). Also, the sub-texts on different levels of these parts are shown to be integrated into and to serve Clement's overall argument for re-establishing concord and peace in the Corinthian church. Odd Magne Bakke questions the traditional views that the conflict in this church was between 'spirit' and 'office' or was a matter of 'doctrine'. He argues that Clement primarily regarded it as a conflict between people of different socio-economic statuses in which a struggle for honor appeared to be an important aspect.

Theology
WissUNT zum Neuen Testament, Vol. 2, No. 143