Re: PISTIS in Josephus

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Thu Mar 18 1999 - 09:17:37 EST


At 7:51 AM -0600 3/18/99, Jeffrey B. Gibson wrote:
>"Carl W. Conrad" wrote:
>
>> Inasmuch as Josephus writes in Rome and under a good deal of Roman
>> (Flavian?) influence, it would hardly surprise me if Latin FIDES and its
>> political associations has a good deal to do with the way he's using
>> PISTIS. I hasten to add, however, that I haven't looked directly at how
>> Josephus in fact DOES use PISTIS--I just would suspect that Roman thinking
>> might have some bearing on his usage.
>>
>
>Carl,
>
>Is this argument reversable (if that's the correct term)? That is to say,
>is Paul's
>use of PISTIS in Romans (or for that matter in any Epistle to a group
>within a Roman
>polis) influenced by what he knew his Roman influenced *readers* would
>understand by
>the term?

This is a very good question; I think that Edgar Krentz's comment may bear
very well on this. One could hardly overstate the importance of the concept
of FIDES in Roman political thought: it appears often enough even on coins
of the imperial period, doesn't it (or do I misremember?).
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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