Die funksie van die 'danksegging(s)' in 1 Tessalonisense

Abstract

The objective of this study has been the determination of the possible communicative function(s) of the "thanksgiving(s)" in I Thessalonians. Normally in the Pauline letters, immediately following the salutation, there is an identifiable epistolary section called the "thanksgiving". This section developed out of antique epistolary conventions and was adopted and adjusted by Paul. Its structure is amenable to description on formal grounds. Normally the Pauline letters contain only one "thanksgiving". Seeing that on the basis of these formal considerations more than one "thanksgiving" could be identified in I Thessalonians, a problem has developed which has given rise to various theories, for example, that I Thessalonians is a composite of more than one letter, or that I Thessalonians had undergone later editorial changes, or that I Thessalonians had not been written by Paul. These problems are considered in chapter one. In this study the point of departure is that formalist and/or "content" approaches do not deal adequately with this problem. A more satisfactory approach to the determination of the function(s) of these sections in I Thessalonians would be an interactive model. According to this model the letters are not primarily regarded as carriers of information but as interactive actions between an encoded author and an implied reader within given communicative situations. This model is subsequently outlined in theoretical terms: the views of writers of antiquity about the relation between epistolography and rhetoric are traced, a recommendation is made for the handling of this relation in a practical analysis of a letter ( chapter two) and relevant aspects of the contemporary linguistic science of pragmatics are dealt with ( chapter three). In chapter four the "thanksgiving(s)" in I Thessalonians are analysed in terms of this theoretical framework. The conclusion of this study is that "thanksgiving" is a misnomer for these sections in I Thessalonians, because in reality they do not function as thanksgivings but are intended to render the implied readers favourable towards the encoded author so that they can be receptive to his argumentation. In order to fulfil this function, the encoded author used the persuasive means of ethos and pathos in the "thanksgiving(s)" in I Thessalonians.