Pointing Out Persuasion in Philemon: Fifty Readings of Paul’s Rhetoric From the Fourth to the Eighteenth Century

D. Francois Tolmie offers a comprehensive overview of the various ways in which commentators interpreted the rhetoric of the Letter to Philemon from the fourth to the eighteenth century. For this purpose, fifty commentaries that appeared during this period are scrutinised one by one in order to determine the different ways in which commentators understood the rhetorical situation reflected by the letter and how they explained Paul’s persuasive strategy. The author concludes with a thorough overview of broad tendencies that may be discerned in this regard. He reflects on the numerous ways in which commentators interpreted and expanded the meagre details offered by the letter to imagine a rhetorical situation that made sense to them. He also explains how consensus developed on certain matters, but, at the same time, how a diversity of views developed on other issues.