Rhetorical dissimulatio artis in the New Testament?

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Schmeller
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 437410330

Before Augustine rehabilitated pagan rhetoric in his work De doctrina Christiana, making rhetoric productive for the Christian proclamation, this rhetoric was a problem for the church fathers: It formed an essential part of the pagan tradition of education; as such, it was attractive and detestable at the same time. In New Testament texts we find one of those aspects only: a very negative attitude. Especially Paul’s letters are relevant here. Paul does neither seem to know anything about rhetoric nor to appreciate it. On the one hand he calls himself an “amateur in speech” (2Cor 11:6). On the other hand he judges all of rhetoric negatively, because in his eyes it is part of the wisdom of the world, while he himself has decided for the wisdom of God (1Cor 1-4).Although Paul emphatically rejected rhetoric, many interpreters today are convinced that he made use of it. A great number of publications analyzes rhetorical means in his letters. Similarly, statements of the church fathers dealing with Pauline rhetoric already betray a conspicuous ambivalence.There are conflicting reactions to Paul’s self-assessment in 2Cor 11:6 (“amateur in speech”) then and now. Does Paul spread the gospel successfully, although he is not able to speak well, or is his proclamation successfull, because he can speak well despite all of his self-criticism?These observations draw attention to a possible interpretation which has not always been taken seriously enough by modern scholarship: Statements like 2Cor 11:6 could be topoi of modesty and could as such be part of a more comprehensive rhetorical strategy, the so-called dissimulatio artis (litterally: “concealment of art”). This is a phenomenon which in ancient culture is to be found not in rhetoric only, but in many areas: A work of art should conceal the skill applied to it as far as possible. If read in this context, Paul’s words by which he seems to dissociate himself from rhetoric would in reality be a declaration of trust in rhetoric.To answer the question whether we really find dissimulatio artis here, it is first necessary to do more research into this rhetorical phenomenon. There has not been much attention to it in classical philology; in exegetical publications it is being mentioned in passing at best. The study proposed here is meant to clarify its realization and its functions in pagan literature of antiquity. Mainly, however, this study aims to answer the question whether Paul and other New Testament writers use rhetorical means which resemble dissimulatio artis and whether this has to do with the early Christian ambivalence toward rhetoric indicated above: Is it possible that not only Augustine, but already the New Testament provided a rhetoric adapted to Christianity and integrated into Christian self-understanding?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants