Hellenistic Jews and Consolatory Rhetoric: 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, 1 Thessalonians, and Hebrews

Cover
Titel
Preface
Table of Contents
Introduction: Hellenistic Jews and Consolatory Rhetoric
	1. The Goals of Ancient Consolatory Rhetoric
	2. Plan of This Study
Chapter 1: Consolatory Rhetoric in Hellenistic Judaism
	1.1 Ancient Greco-Roman Consolation
	1.2 Ancient Jewish Consolation
	1.3 The Content of Hellenistic Jewish Consolatory Rhetoric
	1.4 Navigating between and within Biblical and Greco-Roman Consolation
		1.4.1 Compatibility
		1.4.2 Rejection of Greco-Roman Consolations
		1.4.3 Rejection of Biblical Assumptions and Arguments
		1.4.4 Employing Multiple Paradigms: Afterlife Beliefs
	1.5 Hellenistic Jews at the Intersection of Biblical and Greco-Roman Consolation
Part 1: Consolatory Rhetoric in Response to State-Sponsored Religious Persecution
	Chapter 2: Narrating Trauma: Consolatory Rhetoric in 2 Maccabees
		2.1 Circumstances of Composition
		2.2 Previous Scholarship
		2.3 Genre and Purpose of 2 Maccabees
		2.4 Consolatory Arguments
			2.4.1 Suffering Is Punishment for Sin
			2.4.2 God Disciplines His People with Calamities for Their Good
			2.4.3 God Does Not Abandon His People
			2.4.4 God Watches Everything from Heaven
			2.4.5 God Is Your Help and Ally
			2.4.6 God Punishes the Wicked
			2.4.7 God Rewards the Righteous with Life after Death
			2.4.8 God’s Wrath Is Short-Lived, but His Mercy toward His People Is Constant
		2.5 Function of the Consolatory Arguments in 2 Maccabees
		2.6 Implications
	Chapter 3: Consoling in the Guise of Solomon: The Wisdom of Solomon
		3.1 Circumstances of Composition
		3.2 Previous Scholarship
		3.3 Genre of the Wisdom of Solomon
		3.4 The Persona of King Solomon and Addressees
		3.5 Consolatory Arguments in the Book of Eschatology
			3.5.1 Consolation concerning the Apparent Death of Adults by Torture (3:1–12)
			3.5.2 Consolation concerning the Apparent Deaths of Young People (4:7–19)
			3.5.3 Consolation for Parents Who Had Become Childless (3:13–19; 4:1–6)
			3.5.4 Conclusion: Consolatory Rhetoric in 3:1–4:19
		3.6 Wisdom and Education in Grief and Suffering
			3.6.1 The Relationship between Grief and Education
			3.6.2 Lady Wisdom in the Role of Reason and in the Place of the God of Israel
		3.7 A History of Victory over Similar Trials
			3.7.1 God’s Righteous Children Thirst in the Desert (11:1–14)
			3.7.2 Darkness for “the Lawless” and Light for the “Holy Ones” (17:1–18:4)
			3.7.3 Former Friends Once Again Become Enemies (19:13–17)
		3.8 Making Meaning of the Suffering of the Righteous
			3.8.1 The Suffering of the Righteous: Neither Divine Violence Nor Divine Absence
			3.8.2 God Does Not Cause the Righteous to Suffer, but Uses Their Suffering for Their Benefit
		3.9 Implications
Part 2: Consolatory Rhetoric in the Early Jesus Movement
	Chapter 4: Paul’s Consolatory Letter to Thessalonica: 1 Thessalonians
		4.1 Circumstances of Composition
		4.2 Previous Scholarship
		4.3 Paul’s Diagnosis and Characterization of the Situation
		4.4 Arrangement and Genre of 1 Thessalonians
		4.5 Consolatory Exhortation
			4.5.1 Paul’s Processes of Invention
			4.5.2 The Meaning and Function of the Exhortation in 4:9–12
			4.5.3 The Meaning and Function of the Exhortation in 4:13–5:11
			4.5.4 The Meaning and Function of the Exhortation in 5:12–22
			4.5.5 Conclusion: Consolatory Exhortation in 1 Thessalonians
		4.6 Consolatory Rhetoric in the Epistolary Thanksgiving
			4.6.1 Ancient Consolers Sing the Praises of the Person in Distress: Form and Functions
			4.6.2 Paul Sings the Praises of the Thessalonians in Distress: Form and Functions
			4.6.3 Conclusion: Consolatory Rhetoric in the Epistolary Thanksgiving
		4.7 Expressions of Sympathy
			4.7.1 Expressions of Sympathy within Greco-Roman and Hellenistic Jewish Consolation
			4.7.2 Paul’s Expressions of Sympathy in 1:6–3:10
			4.7.3 Conclusion: Expressions of Sympathy
		4.8 Exempla: Models for Navigating Hardship and Conquering Grief
			4.8.1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy as Consolatory Exempla: Case Study on 2:1–16
			4.8.2 Conclusion: Exempla for Navigating Hardship and Conquering Grief
		4.9 Implications
	Chapter 5: Consoling in the Aftermath of the Destruction of Jerusalem: Hebrews
		5.1 Circumstances of Composition
		5.2 Previous Scholarship
		5.3 Consolation concerning the Destruction of Jerusalem
			5.3.1 What You Lost Exists in Heaven, in an Even Better Form
			5.3.2 Everything Perishes and Everything That Remains Will Soon Perish
			5.3.3 This Happened according to God’s Plan
			5.3.4 You Have Another Form of Atonement That Is Just as (or Even More) Efficacious Than the Forms of Atonement You Lost
			5.3.5 Consolatory Exempla of Sojourners Seeking a Heavenly Homeland
		5.4 Imitating Pauline Consolation regarding Persecution
		5.5 The Problem of Death
		5.6 Implications
Conclusion: Hellenistic Jews at the Crossroads of Biblical and Greco-Roman Consolation
Appendices
	Appendix 1: The Content of Hellenistic Jewish Consolatory Rhetoric
	Appendix 2: Explanations for Why God’s Children and Their Enemies Suffer in the Wisdom of Solomon
	Appendix 3: Proposals for the Structure of 1 Thessalonians as a Letter of Consolation
Bibliography
Index of References
Index of Modern Authors
Subject Index