style and pseudonymity in pauline scholarship 147
register profiles 2–5 (1.8) and 5 (5.3) where 5.3 functions as the upper
end of the variation trajectory, we can calculate the degree of variation
between register profiles 2–4 and 5. this leaves us with about a 66% varia-
tion between the two sets of letters for the feature of φιλο-initial words
and α-privative vocabulary, assuming for the purpose of this experiment
the accuracy of harrison’s counts. So this figure—perhaps surprisingly to
some—is actually well within the range of register designed style-shift by
a single author posited by sociolinguists.89 due to the limited nature of
the data, we cannot isolate a single social variable and measure the Pau-
line response. instead, we have to gauge the complex of shifts within the
entire register profile. to highlight the weight of this consideration, recall
that the rickford/mcnair-Knox study showed an average of 75% variation
for the social variable +group to +individual. yet, this shift is just one of a
complex of shifts we are dealing with when we look at register variation in
the Pauline corpus—not that these percentages posited by Bell and oth-
ers can serve as hard and fast numbers or some kind of definitive gauge
at this stage. But everything we know about single author style-shifts in
sociolinguistics suggests a great deal of language variation in response to
register variation, not at all inconsistent with the co-textual variation we
find in Paul along the trajectory of significant social change.
We also need to take into account the co-texts and their contextual
motivation for the occurrences of α-privatives and φιλο-initial words.
the bulk of these terms occur in the heavily paraenetic portions of the
Pastorals—which are many. We find, for example, a large number of them
in 2 tim 3:2:
ἔσονται γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι φίλαυτοι φιλάργυροι ἀλαζόνες ὑπερήφανοι βλάσφημοι,
γονεῦσιν ἀπειθεῖς, ἀχάριστοι ἀνόσιοι ἄστοργοι ἄσπονδοι διάβολοι ἀκρατεῖς ἀνήμεροι
ἀφιλάγαθοι προδόται προπετεῖς τετυφωμένοι, φιλήδονοι μᾶλλον ἢ φιλόθεοι
interestingly, φιλο-initial words are virtually restricted to the paraenetic
portions of the undisputed Pauline letters as well. for example, the first
occurrence of the φιλο-word group in romans is in romans 12, with
the initiation of the paraenesis: φιλαδελφίᾳ (12:10), φιλόστοργοι (12:10),
φιλοξενίαν (12:13), φιλοτιμούμενον (15:20). the same is true of the occur-
rences in 1 corinthians, Philippians, and 1 thessalonians. φιλο-initial words
only occur within the paraenetic section: φιλόνεικος (1 cor 11:16), φιλήματι
89 it is only slightly above the lower end of the average that the studies noted
above calculated (about 50%) but it is well within the median and upper range (75%)
expectations.