Rhetorical dissimulatio artis in the New Testament?
Final Report Abstract
The project started from the observation that at least until Augustine Christians showed an ambivalent attitude toward Greco-Roman rhetoric: They were torn between fascination and tabooing. If one looks for roots of this attitude in the New Testament very soon Paul comes into view. Here we find a programmatic rejection of rhetoric which opposes and prefers speaking in God's spirit to human persuasion. Paul seems to be ignorant of rhetoric (200r 11:6) and to think nothing of it (1Cor 1-4). Although Paul seemingly rejected rhetoric decidedly, many of today's interpreters are convinced that he made use of it. Some church fathers already considered him to be a good orator and thought negative assessments of himself like 2Cor 11:6 as a sign of modesty. These observations draw attention to the possibility of an interpretation which is at first surprising: Statements like the one in 2Cor 11:6 could be topoi of humility. As such, they would be part of a far more complex rhetorical strategy called dissimulatio artis ("dissimulation of [sc. ones own rhetorical] art"). This is a phenomenon which in antiquity was common in many fields, not in rhetoric only: A work of art should, if possible, not show the skillfulness necessary for its production. When read in this context, Paul's self-distancing from rhetoric would in reality be a sign of his commitment to it. In order to answer the question whether we really find dissimulatio artis in Paul, a thorough study of this rhetorical phenomenon became necessary, since it had been little explored by classical philology. The first task was to deal with its incidence, functions, and characteristics in pagan literature of antiquity. On this basis the question of Paul could be answered. The examination of relevant texts made clear that he (and — for comprehensible reasons — in the New Testament he only) really connected to this tradition. Alternative interpretative attempts like pointing to prophecy in the Old Testament are of limited relevance only. In Paul, however, we find important modifications. He did not use this means in order to conceal his own rhetoric and thus to make it effective without being noticed, as it was used by pagan orators. He rather used dissimulatio to qualify his rhetoric. He had less confidence in human possibilities and in eloquence than had the pagan world he lived in; in his view, only in association with God's power and as its mouthpiece rhetorical exertion of influence was promising. But in this constellation it was indeed possible and appropriate. Dissimulatio in its Pauline form allowed of a qualification of his own oratory as a spiritual rhetoric which was superior, but also comparable to other forms of eloquence. Paul thus in nuce developed a Christian rhetoric which caught on. In an outlook to the way early Christians dealt with oratory, it became clear that it was mainly Augustine who completed Paul's access by interpreting Christian rhetoric as incarnated rhetoric of God.
Publications
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Dissimulatio artis. Verlag Herder GmbH.
Schmeller, Thomas
