Veils and scales : the significance of obduracy and obfuscation motifs in the Letters of Paul

Abstract

This thesis examines the use of obduracy and obfuscation motifs in Paul’s undisputed letters, in light of and in comparison to their use in biblical and early Jewish literary traditions, using the commonly accepted traditio-historical and socio-historical, critical and exegetical methods of modern biblical scholarship. The term, ’obfuscation’, used in this study, refers to a variety of tropes used in Jewish rhetorical tradition describing conditions that are rendered upon the human subject which result in cognitive and/or sensory depletion and deficiency; this state is distinctive insomuch as it is commonly presented by Paul (and others) as being punitively orchestrated and inflicted by a cosmic agent(s). 'Obduracy', in turn, refers to a condition of human stubbornness and recalcitrance, usually in opposition to what is perceived to be the divine will; this condition is presented by Paul as a state resulting from either independent/wilful human disobedience or the influence of a cosmic agent(s). Often, in fact, it is difficult to discern whether Paul ever draws a clear distinction in causality between human and cosmic agents in discussing matters of obduracy; it is in light of this ambiguity that issues of obfuscation and obduracy have been considered together for the purpose of the present study ...