Implisiete etiek in die brief aan Filemon

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Date
2018-11
Authors
Van Wyk, Meyer
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Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
English: This brief letter written to Philemon by the apostle Paul contains various issues about which there is much uncertainty among interpreters. As a result the ethics of Philemon is described in many different ways. When researchers describe the ethics of Philemon an obvious ethical issue arises from the letter, namely the issue of slavery. Discussions on the theology (and ethics) of Philemon, with one or two exceptions, focus on the slavery issue – researchers follow the same underlying pattern in their description of the theology and ethics of Paul’s Letter to Philemon, namely that they reduce the ethics of the letter to Paul’s handling of the slavery issue. This study aims to investigate this tendency in the study of the ethics of the Philemon based upon the following hypothesis: If one follows another, more comprehensive approach to the ethics of Philemon – as apposed to one that only focuses on the slavery issue – a fuller/ better/ more comprehensive description of the ethics of the letter can be achieved. This hypothesis was tested by specifically making use of the more comprehensive approach to New Testament ethics prescribed by Ruben Zimmermann, namely the model of “implicit ethics”. The aim was, by applying the different phases of the model to the text of Philemon, to demonstrate how the ethical reach of the letter stretches much further than the slavery issue.
Afrikaans: Hierdie kort briefie wat Paulus aan Filemon skryf, bevat ʼn aantal aspekte waaroor uitleggers nog nie duidelikheid het nie. Só word die etiek van Filemon ook op uiteenlopende maniere beskryf. Wanneer navorsers die etiek van Filemon beskryf, is daar ’n voor die hand liggende etiese kwessie wat vanuit die brief na vore kom, nl. die slawerny-kwessie. Besprekings oor die teologie (en etiek) van Filemon, met een of twee uitsonderings, fokus op die kwessie van slawerny – navorsers volg dieselfde onderliggende patroon in hulle beskrywing van die teologie en etiek van Paulus se Brief aan Filemon, naamlik dat hulle die etiek van die brief reduseer tot Paulus se hantering van die slawerny-kwessie. Hierdie studie wil hierdie verskynsel in die bestudering van die etiek van Filemon ondersoek met die volgende hipotese as vertrekpunt: Indien ’n ander, breër, benadering tot die etiek van Filemon gevolg word as een wat net op die slawerny-kwessie fokus, kan ’n meer omvangryke/beter/voller beskrywing van die etiek van die brief verkry word. Hierdie navorsingshipotese is getoets deur spesifiek van die breër benadering tot Nuwe-Testamentiese etiek wat deur Ruben Zimmermann voorgestel word, gebruik te maak –nl. die “implisiete etiek”-model. Deur die verskillende invalshoeke van die model op die teks van Filemon toe te pas, is daar gepoog aan te dui hoe die etiese reikwydte van die brief veel wyer strek as die slawerny-kwessie.
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Keywords
Letter to Philemon, Hermeneutics, Pauline literature, Implicit ethics, Dissertation (M.Th. (Old Testament))--University of the Free State, 2018, Slavery
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