Ambrosiaster se uitleg van die Filemonbrief en die retoriese analise van hierdie brief

Abstract

Die studie van Paulus se brief aan Filemon het gebaat by die hernude belangstelling in die retoriese analise van Nuwe-Testamentiese geskrifte, in die sin dat ’n groot aantal retoriese analises van die brief gepubliseer is. Hierdie retoriese analises is vanuit ’n verskeidenheid perspektiewe gedoen, maar tot dusver het niemand nog die manier sistematies ondersoek waarop die vierde-eeuse outeur, wat later die naam Ambrosiastergekry het, die brief in sy kommentaar op die Pauliniese briewe geïnterpreteer het nie. Hierdie artikel bied dus ’n oorsig van Ambrosiaster se interpretasie van die brief aan Filemon en dui aan watter bydrae dit tot die retoriese analise van die brief kan maak.

Ambrosiaster’s exposition of the Letter to Philemon and the rhetorical analysis of the letter. In recent times, the study of Paul’s letter to Philemon benefitted from the renewed interest in the rhetorical analysis of New Testament writings, in the sense that a large number of rhetorical studies of the letter have been published. These rhetorical analyses of the letter have been done from different perspectives, but thus far, no one has systematically investigated the way in which the fourth-century author, who was later called Ambrosiaster, interpreted the letter in his commentary on the Pauline letters. Accordingly, this article offers an overview of Ambrosiaster’s interpretation of the letter to Philemon, and then outlines the contribution that his reading of the letter can make to the rhetorical interpretation of it.