TedM

Unless there is such a list somewhere, I propose we compile one here. If you members are game, we can pass the list along in each post, adding to it one per post. Please only list ones that you (or someone you are quoting) think it is most reasonable to call an interpolation, and indicate your reasons for deciding (or at least leaning) in favor of interpolation. Please don't just list one because because without it the text flows. Indicate why it flows better or why the concept in the verse or the linguistics used is foreign to Paul, etc.. Since the purpose is to compile a list and not discuss the pros and cons of the submission, there is no need to write extensively about your reasons for choosing it. A short paragraph will do.


I'll start it off by quoting Hans Conzelmann, since I don't have one of my own.
It would be helpful to follow this format:

VERSE(S): 1 Cor 14: 33b-36

SOURCE: 1 Corinthians: a Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, by Hans Conzelmann

REASONS:
ONGOING LIST (including this new one):

Romans

1 Corinthians
14:33b-36

2 Corinthians

Galations

Phillipians

1 Thessalonians

Colossians


Don't forget to cut and paste ongoing list onto the bottom of your submission.

S.C.Carlson

I believe that William O. Walker has done a lot of recent work on this topic. I haven't read it (yet), but he may provide a great starting point for building a list.

Toto

My review of Walker's Interpolations in the Pauline Epistles is here.

Walker does not claim to be comprehensive. After reading the book, it seems that a sustantial portion of the Epistles could be interpolations.

TedM

Thanks for the link. Interesting, but only a couple of examples given. The review is more along the lines of why interpolations might be widespread among Paul's work. Unfortunately, we now have what we have. If you would like to work with that, please feel free to add to the list as many as you'd like.

ted

Toto

I think you missed my point. The list of possible interpolations is LONG.

S.C.Carlson

Does Walker categorize them in terms of their probability?

Toto

Only in terms of more probable than not, based on his less restrictive burden of proof. I have the book at home, and I will try to add more later.

TedM

Great. I look forward to seeing the additions.

ted

S.C.Carlson

I guess that means he didn't do the red-pink-gray-black thing...

By the way, thanks for posting that review of Walker way back when.

Is the real issue, however, (regardless how Walker actually framed it) the weight of certain literary evidence in favor of interpolations rather than the burden of proof per se? For example, couldn't one argue like this: "I still have the burden of proof, but, if this set of evidence is given its proper weight, then the burden of proof is met."

As for the weight of various types of evidence, I suppose it may come down one's model for the textual history of the Pauline corpus. Did Walker sketch his own views on its textual history?

Stephen

Toto

I think that the problem is that some Christians have declared that there is a presumption of validity that attached to any Christian text, and then raise the burden of proof to a very high level.

Only in the part I summarized. There is very little variation in the texts, but there are no surviving early texts, especially if you think that Paul wrote in the first century.

Getting to the specifics, Walker discusses these interpolations, which he does not intend to be an exhaustive list. I feel unable to summarize his reasons - he spends up to 30 pages on each and reviews all of the prior scholarship and applies his six criteria. In most cases, there are discontinuities in the flow of the language, and the ideas do not fit Paul's presumed philosophy.


1 Cor 11.3-16 (he does not consider 11.2 to be part of the interpolation.) (This is the "male headship" section.)

1 Cor 2.6-16

1 Cor 13 (faith, hope, and love)

Rom 1.18-2.29 God's wrath against mankind (includes one of the anti-homosexual passages)

Rom 16.25-27 2. Cor 6.14-7.1 (women should keep quiet in church and cover their hair)

1 Thess 2.13-16 (refers to the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus Christ and are now suffering from the wrath of God).

Rom 13.1-7 (Submit to the governmental authorities)

1 Cor 10.1-22 (God is not happy with the Jews)



I notice in listing these that they remove some of the most politically troublesome passages, the anti-women passages, and the references to Jesus being crucified by authorities, either the Jews or the archons.