Volume 15, Issue 2, June 2002

Recent efforts at reading Paul and other New Testament writers from the perspective of Hellenistic rhetoric and philosophy have proved a fruitful way of uncovering new perspectives in Pauline scholarship. The same tools are equally applicable to other early Christian texts. Viewing the Second Letter of Clement as a modified form of psychagogic discourse reveals (among other things) a sophisticated rhetorical attempt to draw its audience into an awareness of the fullness of their salvation in the face of weakening eschatological expectation.