RT Article
T1 “Our políteuma Belongs in Heaven” (Phil 3:20): Comparing Paul’s and Seneca’s Narratives of Consolation
JF Novum Testamentum
VO 64
IS 2
SP 249
OP 266
A1 Muir, Alex W.
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2022
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1795824107
AB This article argues that Paul’s narrative about collective πολίτευμα in heaven (Phil 3:20) constitutes a moment of climactic consolation in the letter to the Philippians. This position is reached through an extended comparison with Seneca’s On Consolation to Mother Helvia (Ad Helviam). It emerges that similar narratives of consolation are constructed in the Ad Helviam and Phil 3:15–21. In both texts, adversity is recognised and rationalised, before it is defied then transcended through rhetorical and cosmological arguments. There are, however, also differences owing to Paul’s and Seneca’s different contexts: in particular, the threat of certain Judaizing opponents to Paul’s gospel in Philippi.
K1 Seneca
K1 Comparison
K1 Consolation
K1 πολίτευμα
K1 Phil 3:20
DO 10.1163/15685365-bja10011