Whitenton 2012 Figuring Joy - Psychagogy.pdf

8/14/2019 Whitenton 2012 Figuring Joy - Psychagogy.pdf

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Figuring Joy: Gratitude as Medicine in1 Thessalonians 2:120

Michael R. WhitentonBaylor University, Waco TX 76798

IntroductionIn discussions surrounding rhetoric in Paul, one of his letters is habitually over-

looked. First Thessalonians finds itself nearly all alone in the world of rhetorical

studies. On the emotional front, the letter does not fare much better. While John

Barton recently wrote a compelling piece on grief in 1 Thessalonians,1it stands

alone as the sole study thus far on the appeal to emotions in 1 Thessalonians. Inan attempt to encourage the study of both rhetoric and the emotions in 1 Thessa-

lonians, below I will develop the relationship between Pauls appeal toemotions, particularly that of gratitude, and his use of rhetoric in one sectionof this sorely neglected letter. I will focus on the well-known similes in 1 Thess

2:1-20 from a neglected angle; namely, I will answer the question, What emo-tion was Paul trying to evoke from his Macedonian audience and why? Mycontention is that, when the dust settles, there are compelling reasons to con-

clude that Paul follows common psychagogic protocol. Specifically, havingcorrectly diagnosed anxiety in the Christians in Thessalonica, Paul uses particu-

lar types of figured speech in order to elicit the emotion of gratitude from his

audience as a medicine to soothe their anxiety.But before we can begin, we must first address the appeal to gratitude

in the Greek tradition, within which, as we shall see, Paul lived and moved and

had his being (cf. Acts 17:28). We begin with the appeal to emotions in rhetoric

aspsychagogy.

Psychagogy and Gratitude in the Ancient Greek TraditionInPhaedrus 261A, Plato refers to rhetoric as (psychagogy), or thatwhich leads the soul by means of words.2This took place in all settings, publicand private, from law courts to public assemblies, and even private correspon-

dences. Of course, different approaches to psychagogy existed at one time, for

example, between the Stoics and Epicurus. But by the time of Paul, psychagogy

had become a widespread and universally recognized phenomenon; its basicprinciples and techniques were accepted by people regardless of their philo-

sophical disposition.3

1Stephen C. Barton, Eschatology and the Emotions in Early Christianity,JBL 130(2011): 57191.

2Translation my own.3Abraham Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians: A New Translation with In-

troduction and Commentary (AB; New York: Doubleday, 2000), 323; idem,Paul and the

Thessalonians: The Philosophic Tradition of Pastoral Care (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1987),8188.


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PERSPECTIVES IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES16

First, the orator would diagnose what emotion his or her audience

needed. Then, having correctly diagnosed the problem in the audience, the ora-tor used the proper tools (certain figured speech and rhetorical techniques) in

order to elicit the certain emotion from the audience. For Plato, orators werelike doctors: The method of the art of healing is much the same as rhetoric(Phaedrus 270B). Both diagnosed the problem, prescribed the remedy, and then

executed the necessary therapy for the benefit of their audience (Plato, Phae-

drus 270B; cf. 270E, 271A, 272A). But if rhetoric is like medicine, applying a

soothing remedy to the wounds of the soul, how are we to understand one of the

key ointmentsgratitude?In the second book of his Rhetoric, Aristotle speaks of the emotion of

or gratitude.4Essentially, it is the feeling of indebtedness to someone inresponse to a benefaction.

5Following David Konstan, I understand Aristotles

logic to be as follows: the one who receives a favor () feels gratitude().6 Additionally, is essentially relational, aroused in an audiencemember by the words or actions of the orator, which are deeply connected to the

relative social standing or of the parties involved.7What sort of people particularly need ? According to Aristotle,

people are especially in need of when (1) they have been deprived ofsomething dear to them, particularly someone they love (Rhet. 2.7.3), or (2)

they have experienced distress or bodily sufferings of some kind (Rhet. 2.7.3).

As one might expect, a particularly effective way to elicit gratitude

from the audience is through words spoken as a part of friendship speech

(commonly called ). Perhaps not surprisingly, this is exactly the con-text that we find in 1 Thess 2:1-20.

4David Konstan, The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks: Studies in Aristotle andClassical Literature (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006), 15668.

5Aristotle writes, Let a benefaction, then, in respect to which the one who has itis said to feel gratitude, be a service to the one who needs is, not in return for something, norso that something should accrue to the one who does the service, but rather that should accrueto the other (Aristotle,Rhet. 2.7.2 [Kennedy, LCL]). In his introduction to his translation ofAristotlesRhetoric, George Kennedy, writes, Kharis has a number of meanings in Greekkindliness, benevolence, good will,a favor, gratitude, and grace. . . Aristotles defi-nition in section 2 [cited above] makes it clear that he is speaking about an altruistic feelingof kindliness or benevolence that at a particular time gratuitously moves a person to do some-

thing for another (from the headnote of the chapter on in Aristotle, On Rhetoric (trans.George A. Kennedy; New York: Oxford University Press, 1991); cf. Edward M. Cope,Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle (ed. J. E. Sandys; Cambridge: Cambridge Universi-ty Press, 1877), 87. However, against the grain of the majority of modern scholarship on ch. 7

of AristotlesRhetoric, I argue with Konstan that refers to thefeeling of gratitude andonly that. That is to say, it may or may not work out in ones actions (though presumably it

would), but that the feeling, not the resultant action, is what Aristotle has in mind in histreatment of in ch. 7. While a full defense of this view is not prudent given space con-straints, it is telling that, as Konstan (Emotions, 158) writes, What does having kharis kharin ekheinmean? It means to feel gratitude, and only that (e.g.Rhetoric 1374a23). Itnever in all of Greek literature means to show favor towards someone, be kindly, do a ser-vice, or anything of that sort. For a full defense, see Konstan,Emotions, 15868.

6Konstan,Emotions, 161.7Ibid., 163.


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JOURNAL OF THE NABPR 17

Psychagogy and Gratitude in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20Like Epicurus before him, Paul turned to letters to shape the minds of both indi-

viduals and communities.8One of the issues he addresses is the topic of .

Four times Paul references some type of which both he and the Thess a-lonians sufferedonce in chapter 1 (1:6) and three times in the third chapter(3:3, 4, 7). In each case, seems to refer at the very least to some sort ofpsychological distress.

9However, most argue that the Thessalonians are expe-

riencing some kind of hardship or danger as a result of their conversion;

whether that difficulty is physical10

or economic11

or something else altogether

is not immediately clear. For our purposes, we only need to note the existence

of emotional distress, which would be present regardless of the specifics of the

involved. Recall Pauls encouragement from the opening of the letter,And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of you re-ceived the word with gratitude inspired by the Holy Spirit (1:6). The maindiscussion of distress, however, is found in 3:1-10, where the Thessalonians are

instructed to encourage one another so that these distresses might not shake

their faith (3:3-4).If we grant that Paul, a trained rhetorician,

12has diagnosed in his au-

dience the problem of emotional distress or anxietyand we have every reasonfrom the text itself to suppose he hasit would make sense for us to find himappealing to some emotion, particularly gratitude, to treat their troubled state. Infact, this is exactly what we find immediately preceding Pauls main discussionof distress.

In 1 Thess 2:1-20 we find Paul using friendship , frankspeech among friends, appealing to emotive figures, especially similes, and call-

ing God himself as witness to the authenticity of his feelings. My contention isthat all of these figures serve at least one function: to produce gratitude in the

hearts of his audience. In what follows we will focus on the use of familial si-

miles, noting how certain metaphors and appeals to God as witness functionalong the way.

8Malherbe,Paul and the Thessalonians, 68.9Ibid., 3648; cf. idem, Thessalonians, e.g., 127130.10Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians: A Commentary on the

Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990), 8182.11See, e.g., Richard S. Ascough, Pauls Macedonian Associations: The Social Con-

text of Philippians and 1 Thessalonians (WUNT 2/161; Tbingen: Mohr Seibeck, 2003),16568, who argues that may refer to economic hardship, rather than psychologicaldistress or physical persecution; cf, Peter Marshall,Enmity in Corinth: Social Conventions in

Pauls Relations with the Corinthians (WUNT 2/23; Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1987), 234.12For the purposes of this article, I presuppose the conclusion widely held by scho-

lars of ancient rhetoric in the New Testament that Paul was trainedat the very leastin theprogymnasmata. Beyond these preliminary exercises, the educational pattern in the ancientRoman world make it highly likely that, regardless of his level of formal education, Paul wasexposed to rhetorical techniques far beyond those in his own curriculum. In reality, the le-vels of education were actually quite fluid and the classrooms for each level were oftenshared among those in the primary, secondary, and even tertiary stages of education. See

Raffaella Cribiore, Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek Education in Hellenistic and RomanEgypt (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), 37.


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1 Thessalonians 2:7Like a Gentle Nurse

In rhetorical theory, similes used comparison in order to imply a certain resem-blance between two things. For example, the author ofRhetoricaadHerennium

writes, He entered the combat in body like the strongest bull, impetuously likethe fiercest lion (Rhet. Her. 4.49.62 [Caplan, LCL]). But 1 Thessalonianspaints a much different picture. In 1 Thess 2:7 Paul compares himself not to a

strong bull but to a gentle nurseor perhaps an infant and its nursing mother.13He writes, We were gentle (or infants) among you, like a nurse tenderly caringfor her own children.14

With highly emotional language, Paul portrays himself as a gentlenurse, using vocabulary that was often attributed to philosophers.

15The gentle

nurse simile is strengthened by the fact that the nurse is portrayed as caring for

her own children; this emphatic pronoun serves at least two functions. First, it

intensifies the love implied in the nurses care for these children. Second, it in-tensifies the love and care that Paul implies he has for the Thessalonians: it is asif they are his very own children.

The simile creates a feeling of gratitude in the hearts of the audiencethat attacks the feelings of anxiety they are experiencing like a potent medicine.

This interpretation gains traction from what Paul says next. In v. 8, he explains:

So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not on-ly the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very

dear to us. While philosophers were sometimes characterized as gentle nurses,

13As early as Origen and Clement of Alexandria this textual problem has been feltand it shows no signs of abating. As the arguments for and against each reading are well-

worn, we need not rehearse them here, except to say that, from an ancient rhetorical and phi-losophical perspective, may fit better in the context of 1 Thess 2:1-20. On the otherhand, the external evidence in favor of is overwhelming, and thus we ought to work tofind if there may be a way to untangle the rhetoric of the metaphor. Along these lines, it may

be argued that Paul uses to portray himself as vulnerable, thus heightening the emotionof this portion of the letter. Further, the imagery of a nurse offering maternal care to her ownsmall children in the form of breast milk creates a context in which Paul may well be justifia-

ble in portraying himself as an infant. The metaphor is mixed, but nonetheless coherent.

For those opting for , see Malherbe, Thessalonians, 14546; idem, Gentleas a Nurse: The Cynic Background to I Thess II,NovT 12 (1970): 20317; cf. HelmutKoester,Paul & His World: Interpreting the New Testament in Its Context (Minneapolis:Fortress, 2007), 37. For those opting for see, recently, Ulrich Schmidt, 1 Thess 2.7b,c: Kleinkinder, die wie eine Amme Kinder versorgen,NTS 55 (2009): 11620; BeverlyRoberts Gaventa, Our Mother Saint Paul (Westminster John Knox, 2007), 1820; TimothyB. Sailors, Wedding Textual and Rhetorical Criticism To Understand the Text of 1 Thessa-lonians 2.7,JSNT (2001): 8198; Jeffrey A. D. Weima, But We Became Infants AmongYou: The Case for NHPIOI in 1 Thess 2.7,NTS 46 (2000): 54764. Others opt for ambiva-lence, as does Daniel Marguerat, noting that the arguments for and against each variant

cancel each other out; see his Laptre, mre et pre de la communaut (1 Th 2, 1-12),ETR75 (2000): 386. Fortunately, for our purposes, a decision between and does notsignificantly impact the function of the simile or the overall thesis of this article.

14Unless otherwise noted, all citations of the NT are from the NRSV.15Malherbe, Gentle as a Nurse, 20317. It is worth pointing out that even if we

do not accept as original, there is no reason to likewise reject the validity of thegentlenurse motif in the Greek tradition. Pauls portrayal of himself as an infant would more thanadequate for his self-characterization as a gentle nurse.


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they would not likely claim to share their own selves with their audience.16

Dio

Chrysostoms masculine and sophisticated philosopher is exemplary of thispoint. This philosopher helped people, yes, but he also protected his individuali-

ty both decently and steadfastly (Oration 77/78.38; cf. Epictetus, Discourse3.22.28).17 Pauls gesture of sharing his very soul with the Thessalonianswould then strike many as inappropriate, given his lofty statusespeciallysince, within the simile, the nurses life-giving substance was her breast milk.18Despite his station as an apostle, Paul came among the Thessalonians as a gentle

nurse, caring for his own children, sharing even his own life with them.

While it may be objected that we lack an explicit call to gratitude at thispoint 1 Thessalonians, such disapproval falters on two grounds. First, it does not

grasp the importance of subtlety in rhetoric, especially figured speech (e.g.,

Quintilian,Inst. 9.2.75; 12.9.5). Put simply, the rhetorical force is stronger if the

point is not stated outright, but discovered by the audience on their own.19

Second, it does not properly understand how these more subtle appeals relate tothe explicit appeals to joy later in 1 Thess 5:16, 18 where Paul writes, Rejoice

() always! . . . Give thanks () in all circumstances; for this isthe will of God in Christ Jesus for you. The indirect appeals to gratitude in thissection of the letter drive forward toward ch. 5 and find their consummation in

5:16, 18. Indeed, this is just what we would expect given the rhetorical structure

of the letter as a whole, which is split between more epideictic (1:13:13) andmore paraenetic (4:15:28) sections.

In sum, Pauls use of this simile reminds the audience of his tender carefor them, coupled with his refusal to demand anything from them. The intended

result is that gratitude flood their anxious hearts.

1 Thessalonians 2:11Like a FatherOnly a few lines later, Paul continues the familial imagery by comparing his

care for the Thessalonians with the way a father deals with his own children.

The choice of father-son imagery is an important one because it sustains the

awakening of gratitude in the audience based upon Paul as their caretaker.20

This conclusion finds support in the fact that, in antiquity, (1) the Greek tradi-

tion of moral instruction testifies that teachers often spoke as fathers to their

16Malherbe, Thessalonians, 160.17Ibid.18Raymond F. Collins, The Power of Images in Paul (Collegeville: Liturgical Press,

2008), 17.19On the need for masking ones rhetorical techniques from the audience in order to

increase ones credibility, see Quintilian,Inst. 12.9.12; cf. 12.5.2a. See also, Peter Lampe,

Quintilians Psychological Insights in hisInstitutio Oratoria, inPaul and Rhetoric (ed. J.Paul Sampley and Peter Lampe; New York: T&T Clark, 2010), 184.20On the use of father-son imagery here, see Trevor J. Burke,Family Matters: A

Socio-Historical Study of Fictive Kinship Metaphors in 1 Thessalonians (JSNTSup 247;Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003), 130162. Burke also concludes that one of thefunctions of the paternal imagery is that his Thessalonian children are to feel affection to-ward Paul. While Burke notes affection toward Paul, he does not deal with how that affectionought to affect their emotions, namely their anxiety.


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disciples, who were, in turn, called their children;21

(2) fathers were often

thought of as having a favorable disposition to their children;22

and (3) fatherswere supposed to tailor their moral instruction to the individual nature and emo-

tional condition of their children.23

The seemingly insignificant line as you know ( ) in

2:11 draws the audiences mind back to their own experiences with Paul, theirfather,

24and the evocative verbs paired with an emotive use of polysyndeton

25

likewise contribute to arousing gratitude in the audience. Like a good father, he

writes that he was urging and encouraging [them] andpleading that [they] leada life worthy of God26 (2:12). This use of polysyndeton is in keeping withQuintilians discussion which says that it is used to make our utterances morevigorous and emphatic and produce an impression of vehemence as in an ou t-burst of emotion (Inst. 9.3.53). The polysyndeton would also impress the details

of the discussion on the ears of the audience, causing them to recall the care

which Paul took with them. As with the simile before it, then, this figure servesto arouse in the audience a sense of gratitude, gratitude which combats the an-

xiety that is presumably welling up within them. But for whom is the gratitudeto be felt?

Before, we can answer this question, we need to deal briefly with a

possible hurdle to the question itself. Abraham Malherbe has argued that there

was no sense in which the Thessalonians were to feel gratitude as a result of

Pauls nurturing. There was no hint they should be grateful when they are nur-tured; they are to respond with recognition and esteem to persons whose activity

is described theologically.27At this point, however, it ought to be apparent thatMalherbes comments are in need of nuancing.28

Rather than understanding Pauls appeals forgratitude strictly in a ho-rizontal sense, Pauls audience is likely to have felt gratitude toward God on thebasis of his work through Paul. After all, as Paul points out in the immediate

context, their words were really Gods words for the Thessalonians (2:13).

21Plato,Phaedo 116A; cf. Malherbe, Thessalonians, 150; idem,Moral Exhortationa Greco Roman Sourcebook (LEC 4; Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox, 1989), 5455.The presence of a paternal simile, then, helps frame this section of the letter such that psy-chagogy would be expected, or at least not out of the ordinary.

22Philo, On the Life of Moses 1.328; Iamblichus, The Life of Pythagoras; cf. Mal-herbe, Thessalonians, 150.

23Ps.-Plutarch, On the Education of Children 13DEF; cf. Malherbe, Thessalonians,150-51.

24Collins,Power of Images, 17.25According to Quintilian,Inst. 9.3.50-54,polysyndeton is a figure of speech in

which many connecting particles are used (e.g., ). One can use the same particle or differ-ent ones.

26

.27Malherbe, Thessalonians, 327.28Malherbe is correct that, unlike some of his contemporaries, Paul was not aiming

at a self-centered attainment of gratitude from his audience. But, on the other hand, it doesseem that Paullike a good physician, or perhaps a nurse, did try to soothe the Thessalo-nians anxiety by means of gratitude. Remember that those who are anxious are amongstthose in greatest need of feeling gratitude.


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Additionally, it was God who called them into his own kingdom and glory ( )not Paul (2:12). This is particularly significantbecause, as we saw above, Aristotle understands an important connection be-

tween the words or deeds of one person and the effect of those words on apersons relative social standingor .29

The Thessalonians were indeed drawn to feel gratitude by Pauls fig-ured use of psychagogy. But that gratitude was ultimately to be directed toward

God, who was the one actually responsible for the care they received. We now

turn to the last familial simile in this section, found in 2:17.

1 Thessalonians 2:17Like an Orphaned ChildIn 1 Thess 2:17, Paul describes himself as separated or orphaned from theThessalonians.

30The term used here is and BDAG defines it

as to make someone an orphan.31However, according to Bruce, Wanamaker,and Malherbe, was frequently used of either children who had beenorphaned or of parents bereaved of their children; unfortunately, clear examples

of this meaning are in short supply.32In fact, I am unaware of any (other?) clearexample of the meaning bereft in the ancient literature.33Thus Paul seems tobe portraying himself as the child of the Thessalonians. But we must keep in

mind that the child imagery depicts the anxiety and grief of Paul as their father.

Rhetorically, Pauls portrayal of himself as a Thessalonian child focus-es on his vulnerability and further heightens his appeal to their emotions as their

father.34

It also increases his credibility by presenting him in a modest light,

29Konstan,Emotions, 163. Gratitude is particularly related to since it relates tothe relative positioning of the recipient of the benefaction: Gratitude involves just such arelative positioning, since it derives from the prior need of the recipient in relation to thegenerosity of the benefactor, and the continued state of inferiority until the debate can be

repaid (Ibid., 163164). One might feel gratitude toward another person because his or hersocial standing () is in some way elevated, just as anger is felt, for Aristotle, when ones is a challenged or jeopardized. What greater elevation of ones social standing could befelt than to be called into the of God himself?

Further, only a few lines later Paul exclaims that the Thessalonians are in fact hisglory and gratitude (2:20). In this way, Paul himself expresses gratitude to God for the Thes-salonians in the same way that the Thessalonians would have felt for Paul (cf. 2:13).

30The evocative tenor of this verse is heightened by the emphatic .31 ,BDAG, 119-20.32Wanamaker, Thessalonians, 120; F. F. Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians (WBC 45;

Waco: Word, 1982), 54; Malherbe, Thessalonians, 182.33So also, Collins, The Power of Images,19. As with the simile in 2.7 above, the ar-

gument of the paper is not significantly challenged by ones understanding of. But,if one were to take as authentic in 2.7, the meaning orphaned

for in 2.17 would fit quite well. While it is impossible to say, one wondersif the ambiguity of might be responsible, at least in part, for the confusionin the textual tradition over /.So also John B. Faulkenberry Miller, Infants andOrphans in 1 Thess 2.7 (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society of BiblicalLiterature, Boston, Mass., 1999), cited in Reidar Aasgaard, Paul as a Child: Children andChildhood in the Letters of the Apostle,JBL 126 (2007): 143.

34Aasgaard, Paul as a Child, 143. On understanding simply asto tear away from, see Burke,Family Matters, 15760.


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which, according to Quintilian was important if a rhetor was to convince his or

her audience that he or she was not simply manipulating them.The most important aspect of this simile, for our purposes, is the fact

that Paul emphasizes that he was separated from the Thessalonians. Recall Aris-totles view that those who have been deprived of loved ones are in great needof feeling gratitude (Rhet. 2.7.3). Paul emphasizes that they were torn from each

other, just as orphans were torn from their parents, in a way that presents both

parties as prime candidates for gratitude. Interestingly, it is in this context that

Paul emphasizes the gratitude that he himself feels for the Thessalonians.

The orphan simile is complemented by the use of a metaphor. Paulspeaks of the Thessalonians as his own glory and gratitude: For what is ourhope or gratitude or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it

not you? Yes, you are our glory and gratitude! In this way, Paul models thedesired response for the Thessalonians just a bit further on in the letter: Howcan we thank God enough for you in return for all the gratitude that we feel be-fore our God because of you? (3.9).

Ironically, the very fact that Paul acclaims the Thessalonians as hisown glory and joy or gratitude would likely evoke in them a sense of gratitude

that Paul himself has deigned to continue to speak with them on such familiar

terms. Here, then, both Paul and the Thessalonians experienced mutual distress

from their separation. And in the face of that separation anxiety, Paul reminds

the Thessalonians of his gratitude for them, a gratitude which doubtlessly finds

reciprocity in the Thessalonians own gratitude for Paul.We have seen that Paul utilizes emotive familial similes in order to

arouse feelings of gratitude in the anxious hearts of his Thessalonian audience.

While it is not a rhetorical figure per se, one more important piece of Paulspsychagogic program in 1 Thess 2.1-20 merits our attention.

In the midst of the familial similes, Paul makes use of a classical rhe-

torical idiom, appealing to God as witness. Matthew Novenson has recently

demonstrated that here in 1 Thessalonians (and elsewhere), Paul makes use of

the topos of divine testimony,35

which calls on a god or gods to vouch for the

speaker.36

By appealing to the God of Israel as witness in 2:5 and 2:10, Paul

35In ancient rhetorical theory, it was widely permissible, though not terribly com-mon, for one to appeal either to humans (living or dead) or to the gods as witnesses to the

validity of his or her own words or actions (see Cicero [Top. 20.7677], Ps-Cicero [Rhet.Her. 2.30.4749], and Quintilian [Inst. 5.1.12; cf. 5.9.12; 5.11.3644]). For example, Cice-ro divides testimony up into two types: those from the gods and those from people (Top.20.76), and he explains that the gods are considered trustworthy because of their divine na-

ture, whereas people are considered trustworthy based on hard work (Top. 20.7677).36Matthew V. Novenson, God Is Witness: A Classical Rhetorical Idiom in Its

Pauline Usage,NovT 52 (2010): 35575. Novenson cites, among other texts, Lucian,Phal.1.1, , I call upon the god himself as witness(translation my own). For a fuller discussion of the topos of divine testimony in the Greekand Roman traditions, including its application in ancient speeches and treatises, as well asthrough deeds and speeches in Hellenistic narratives, see James R. McConnell, The Toposof Divine Testimony in Luke-Acts (Ph.D. diss., Baylor University, 2009), 32150, 215274.The import of McConnells work, for our purposes, is that it corroborates Novensons workin Paul by further demonstrating both the theoretical basis of the appeal to divine testimony


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emphasizes the authenticity with which he ministered to the Thessalonians. By

using such an evocative idiom, Paul intensifies the pathos and further encourag-es gratitude on the part of the Thessalonians. Not only this, but the appeal to

God as witness also invokes God as a participant in Pauls pastoral care of theThessalonians.

ConclusionIn sum, we have examined the appeal to the emotion of gratitude as a medicine

against anxiety in 1 Thess 2. The characterization of the Thessalonians as apeople experiencing , particularly in ch. 3, made the evocative, figuredlanguage, particularly couched in familial similes, prime territory for detecting

Pauls leading of the souls of the Thessalonians by the means of his words.Viewed from a psychagogic perspective, these familiar similes take on a new

significance. Rather than simply adding variation, style, or even generallyheightening the pathos of the letter, these similes are aimed at a very specific

problem in the Macedonian audience. Like a good physician, or rhetorician, he

correctly diagnosed distress in the hearts of his audience and tailored his lan-guage to meet the needs of the moment. Using similes bolstered by divine

testimony, Paul compared his love and care for them to a gentle nurse, a lovingfather, and a parent who felt like an orphaned child; Paul emphasized an inti-

mate connection with the Thessalonians in an attempt to arouse gratitude in

their hearts. However, as we saw, this gratitude was not meant to be expressedtoward Paul alone, but rather, together with the apostle, their hearts now unbur-

dened by the troubles of distress and anxiety, they can to exclaim, How can wethank God enough for you in return for all the gratitude that we feel before our

God because of you? (1 Thess 3.9).

in full, as well as its application in a variety of different literary settings. Thus, while theidiom is not terribly common, it is nonetheless prevalent throughout the literary records.

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Whitenton 2012 Figuring Joy - Psychagogy.pdf