The Campaign Rhetoric of Paul

Explores Paul’s letters through campaign rhetoric, challenging hermeneutical trust and proposing a method to detect strategic dishonesty in early Christian discourse.

How should interpreters read Paul’s letters when authority and legitimacy are contested? This provocative study reframes Pauline discourse through the lens of campaign rhetoric, challenging the long-standing hermeneutic of trust and asking whether Paul’s arguments were always sincere. Drawing on historiography, metaphor theory, political science, and cognitive psychology, the authors develop a rigorous method for distinguishing authentic conviction from expedient persuasion in moments of high-stakes conflict. The analysis moves beyond abstract theory to close readings of key texts. Extended discussions of 2 Corinthians 10–13 and Galatians 1–2 explore Paul’s autobiographical claims, his portrayal of the Jerusalem apostles, and his shifting stance on the law. These passages are examined alongside rhetorical patterns such as military metaphors, selective self-presentation, and strategic appeals to revelation. By situating Paul’s letters within the cultural norms of Greco-Roman and Jewish traditions—where deception was often tolerated—the book illuminates how Pauline rhetoric may have been shaped by the pressures of competition and the logic of warfare. Combining historical-critical rigor with interdisciplinary insight, The Campaign Rhetoric of Paul offers scholars a fresh interpretive framework for reading the apostle’s letters without presuming transparency. It invites readers to grapple with the unsettling possibility that Paul’s voice, like that of many leaders in contested arenas, was sometimes less candid than tradition has assumed.