04_Biblica_Aletti_Layout 1 08/07/13 12:56 Pagina 396 396 JEAN-NOËL ALETTI Let us briefly show that this way of proceeding is found in the Pauline letters more often than is thought. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says that he has heard about the disputes concerning the apostles that exist among the members of the community. But instead of re- sponding immediately, he begins by recalling the overthrow of the values brought about by the Cross in order to point out to the Chris- tians of Corinth that they have remained attached to the values of the world and have not yet entered into those of the gospel, which are totally opposed to the former. Only in 3,5-17 does he give his response — that the apostles are only the servants of the gospel and that what is important is the status of the community. In short, he makes a detour, which is in fact foundational, because he returns to the decisive event of the Cross and emphasizes above all that ec- clesiological questions find their answer primarily in Christology. Elsewhere, I have shown that this same way is used in 1 Corinthians 8-10; 12‒14; and 15 2. This recurrence confirms Paul’s tendency to postpone the immediate responses (or to be content with them); it also shows that in his responses, the Apostle is less concerned with his correspondents’ reasons or motivations than with the conse- quences of their position. That is why it is often difficult to recon- struct with exactness the situations or the difficulties confronting the Christians whom Paul is addressing. From the sections of 1 Corinthians that have just been men- tioned, one can draw an important methodological conclusion. In these argumentations, the Apostle only responds to the communi- ties’ problems and questions after a more or less long and radical detour has been made. This means that one must be careful not to conclude too quickly that the communities’ problems determine the rhetorical genre of the Pauline letters 3, because it is not the com- munities’ problems that provide the criteria that determine the let- ters’ rhetorical genre but the way in which Paul treats them. Thus, 1 Corinthians 14 could cause one to think that the genre of the entire J.-N. ALETTI, “La rhétorique paulinienne”, Paul, une théologie en con- 2 struction (eds. A. DETTWILER – J.D. KAESTLI – D. MARGUERAT) (Geneva 2004) 47-66; repeated in ID., New Approaches for Interpreting the Letters of Saint Paul. Collected Essays. Rhetoric, Soteriology, Christology and Eccle- siology (Rome 2012) 11-35. As everyone knows, the three ancient rhetorical genres are the judiciary, 3 the deliberative, and the epideictic. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2013 - Tutti i diritti riservati