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The revelation of God – a rhetorical-critical interpretation of Romans 1:18-32 M.A. Kruger’s 1983 doctoral thesis caused serious discussion in GKSA circles with regard to the differentiation between “general revelation” and “specific revelation”. Romans 1:18-32 seems to be a central pericope in the understanding of the revelation of God. A project of the Faculty of Theology, PU for CHE, focusing on this specific problem, gave birth to this article as a component of the interpretation of this pericope. The issue addressed in this article is how this pericope can be interpreted from a rhetorical-critical point of view. In my own interdisciplinary and interactional approach to rhetorical criticism, the purpose is to interpret the communicative function(s) of this pericope. It turns out that the letter to the Romans was addressed to those in Rome in order to convince them that the reason for their acceptance as God’s people lies in God’s work only and not in their imitation of the Jews. Romans 1:18-32 seems to be part of the opening of the letter body intended to be a warning for all people, including an example of what may happen if this warning is not taken seriously. The logic of the argument indicates that God’s wrath will come upon those who do not accept His revelation in creation.

Abundant love and conflict management: Basis-theoretical perspectives from Philippians The management of conflict in the process of building the Lord’s church remains an issue in need of basis-theoretical guidelines based upon Scripture. The rhetorical analyses of Philippians during the past decade have brought about a better understanding of the structure and theme of the letter, but have failed to point out the performative effect of the paradigm “behind” the compilation of the letter. This paradigm (here referred to as “the abundant love of Christ”) is not only mentioned in the letter itself, but the method of discourse analysis used in this article also reveals the impact of this love illustrated by the way that Pauls deals with various kinds of conflict. A more detailed analysis of the introduction of the letter (1:3- 11, esp. v. 9-11) clearly underscores the existence and importance of Christ’s love in Paul’s writings and for the Philippians. Although the members of the Philippian congregation were partners in the furthering of the gospel, they missed Paul’s mindset of love to a great extent. Through excellent rhetorical techniques this letter inspires the reader of today to use Paul’s mindset in contemporary conflict management. The existence of such a mindset can be evaluated by means of empirical questions for the purposes of practical theology.

The focus of this article is the use of androcentric language in 1 Thessalonians. The questions asked in this regard are: does the author of 1 Thessalonians use sexist-exclusive language, thus gender-specific language or does he use gender-inclusive language as used within a patriarchal culture? And what are the implications of this situation for South African women today? In order to answer these questions, the background of ancient authors’ use of androcentric language is given as seen from a socio-historical point of view. Then the use of androcentric language by the author of 1 Thessalonians is evaluated. Against this background and in the light of this evaluation, the implications of this kind of language in 1 Thessalonians for contemporary South African women are discussed. It is found that Paul’s use of androcentric language in 1 Thessalonians is possibly a result of the prescriptions of the roles of a patriarchal culture and that the church needs to reconsider its prescriptions of the roles of women in the church. The question to be answered is whether the church prescribes the roles of women in church because of a Biblical view of women or because of its negligence to let God’s Word speak to women in societies. In the light of a changed attitude towards women in our modern society, translators of the New Testament need to consider a fresh interpretation and translation of 1 Thessalonians (and the rest of the New Testament) in which women are addressed and considered to be an active part of God’s church.

It is argued that rhetorical criticism is increasingly recognized as a method of interpretation of biblical literature. From the discussion in this article it becomes clear that there are different perspectives of rhetorical criticism just as there are different theories of rhetoric. It is argued that contemporary critics need to develop an interdisciplinary method of rhetorical criticism in order to answer questions about the potential effectiveness of a rhetorical act. It is concluded that the rhetorical critic needs a combination of "old" methods in order to answer new questions.