Wrestling with Rationality in Paul: Romans 1-8 in a New Perspective

Description

Spanning a variety of disciplines, this enquiry focuses on one particular Pauline characteristic: the apostle's habit of making matters of faith the object of logical appraisal. A tracing of the elliptical patterns of argument in Romans 1-8 illustrates this habit and, at the same time, displays how Paul's vigorous persistence in it seems often not to be matched by the solidity, or at any rate the lucidity, of his logic. By viewing Paul against the background of semiology, more especially the semiological theory of Umberto Eco, new light is shed on the genesis of Paul's reasoning. The discussion which ensues is marked by an interesting and productive combination of modern linguistics and classical logic. Moreover, the singular potential of today's techniques of 'fuzzy' logical analysis for measuring the intellectual muscle of Paul's argumentation is brought out dramatically by the uniqueness of his semiological situation. His rationality takes on a new face.

"Moores has produced a book which is both practical and erudite...Readers of this work will find themselves seeking to analyze the logic of New Testament letters more precisely and meaningfully. Developing that trait is a refreshing outcome of the study of this book.' Thomas Lea, Southwestern Journal of Theology "The marvelous aspect of this book is a concise analysis of rhetorical theory, logic, and semiotics by a truly synthetic mind." Steven Boguslawski, Religious Studies Review