dusting off a pseudo-historical letter 315
that the letter, as a letter written in Paul’s name, presents one appropria-
tion of Paul as a culture hero in the second century.
the treatment of Pauline pseudepigraphy has been burdened by a
canonical bias, where contested letters within the canon are seen as a
“problem” in need of resolution while letters outside the canon are, like
most non-canonical works, neglected (at least in comparison to the
amount of scholarship dedicated to the canonical texts). laodiceans is
simply one of the most neglected of such texts.
a more fruitful model for future research is offered by Patricia rosen-
meyer’s discussion of pseudonymous or pseudo-historical letters from,
especially, the second sophistic.53 such letters were popular creative ven-
ues for retelling historical events and personalities with far more flare and
personal impact than other genres permitted, in part due to the personal
perspective of a letter and in part due to the less restrictive conventions
attached to letter writing. rosenmeyer observes that,
the principal impulse behind the work of a pseudonymous letter writer may
have been the desire to illuminate a figure from the glorious past through
a more intimate character portrait than a standard biography would allow.
the letter writer presents an “apology” for the hero’s life, or challenges a
later generation to admire his accomplishments, viewing historical events
through the lens of one man’s personal correspondence.54
she also notes that such fictive letters would typically pick up where the
historical record left off, thereby adding a voyeuristic reading experience
for the real audience. rosenmeyer’s study is not burdened by a canoni-
cal bias and these letters are not “a problem” that demands resolution.
rather, her study is focused on a broad philosophical and historical liter-
ary tradition within the imperial period.
While accepting the pseudepigraphic nature of such Pauline texts, we
can look at just such a practice within Christian circles in the produc-
tion of what rosenmeyer labels pseudo-historical letters. specifically, in
the appropriation and utilization of a significant founding figure such as
Paul, such writers in the second century re-present that figure as a type
of culture hero. Paul becomes a founding, authoritative figure within
careful source-critical analysis of both canonical Philippians and laodiceans in order to
possibly recover Paul’s initial letter to the Philippians. such a project is beyond the scope
of my study. furthermore, such a project does not negate the pseudepigraphic nature of
the extant latin laodiceans.
53 Patricia a. rosenmeyer, Ancient Greek Literary Letters: Selections in Translation (lon-
don: routledge, 2006), 97–129.
54 rosenmeyer, Ancient Greek Literary Letters, 98.