1. I was reading Tate, W. Randolph. /Handbook for Biblical Interpretation: An Essential Guide to Methods, Terms, and Concepts/. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012. and ran into the concept of "Lists of Circumstances.
[quote]
LIST OF CIRCUMSTANCES
Autobiographical notes in the LETTERs of Paul that reflect some details of his career. For example, in 2 Cor. 12:10 Paul offers a list: “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” Another such list is found in 2 Cor. 11:22–28.
W. Randolph Tate, Handbook for Biblical Interpretation: An Essential Guide to Methods, Terms, and Concepts (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 238.
2. So I decide to make a Passage list of all the Lists of Circumstances that I can find. I mark my permanent lists by giving them a title beginning with LIST: Other lists are temporary and should be cleared out every now and then.
3. I create a new Passage List using my naming conventions:
4. I highlight the text which has two references both Lists of Circumstance and use the Add from selected text to add them to my Passage List.
5. Now I need to find all the cases of Lists of Circumstances in the Bible. I begin with a simple search for "Lists of Circumstances" to see if someone has done the work for me.
I find several items of interest:
a. While the initial definition applied only to Paul, I see the term has a broader application:
[quote]
List of Circumstances
These lists reflect details about careers of the apostles. For example in 2 Cor 12:10 we find this list: “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” Another such list is found in 2 Cor 11:23–28.
W. Randolph Tate, Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach, Third Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011), 167.
b. I discover that there is also a technical term for "list of circumstances" - two in fact.
[quote]
Having eliminated God and Christ himself as agents of separation, Paul turns rhetorically to any other contenders, making use of what has come to be called a peristasis catalogue, a listing of circumstances (particularly perilous ones) that go to demonstrate how virtue is proved through testing (compare 1 Cor 4:10–13; 2 Cor 4:8–10; 11:23–29; see J. Fitzgerald, Cracks in an Earthen Vessel: An Examination of the Catalogues of Hardships in the Corinthian Correspondence [SBLDS 99; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988]).
Luke Timothy Johnson, /Reading Romans: A Literary and Theological Commentary, Reading the New Testament Series/ (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2001), 146.
[quote]
By this self-assured statement Paul introduces a whole “list of circumstances,” a Peristasenkatalog, which has to do only with hardships, sufferings, and care. This catalogue of trials should provide proof of Paul’s daring conviction “I am more!” but that comparison with the opponents will recede into the background.
Daniel J. Harrington, “Editor’s Preface,” in /Second Corinthians/, ed. Daniel J. Harrington, vol. 8, Sacra Pagina Series (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999), 191.
c. I find a solid example of using a list of circumstances in interpreting the text i.e. justify my effort in building the list.
[quote]
It also possible, however, to connect the phrase ἐν ὑπομονῇ πολλῇ to the preceding words and to make a break after this phrase, as in REB: “we try to recommend ourselves in all circumstances by our steadfast endurance: in affliction, hardship …” According to this segmentation, the “steadfast endurance” is not one among a list of circumstances, but is rather the manner in which they recommend themselves in all of these circumstances. That is, the words ἐν ὑπομονῇ πολλῆ are “more strictly introductory” and apply to all that follows (Lambrecht, Second Corinthians, pp. 109–110).
Roger L. Omanson and Bruce Manning Metzger, A Textual Guide to the Greek New Testament: An Adaptation of Bruce M. Metzger’s Textual Commentary for the Needs of Translators (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006), 363.
d. I also go to my standard reference for all things rhetorical Silva Rhetoricae
6. Now I modify my search to find any of the terms "List of Circumstances", Peristasenkatalog, "peristasis catalogue"
7. I work my way through the results adding the references to my Passage List as I find them. At some point I may convert the list to a multi-attachment note or a visual filter to make it visible in the Biblical text.
