Performing Philemon: Possibilities and Limitations

Nov 20, 2023  at SBL in San Antonio, TX

This session of Performance Criticism of the Bible and Other Ancient Texts (PC-BOAT) experienced three different embodiments of Paul's letter to Philemon and asking respondents to reflect on how performance illuminates the possibilities and limitations of meaning making for an audience. Click on the links below to watch video of each performance and response.

Clifford Barbarick, Abilene Christian University, Presiding

Performances of Philemon by:

Michael Halcomb, Glossa House Publishing

Jeanette Mathews, Charles Sturt University

Marlon Winedt, United Bible Societies

Response and Discussion of Performances of Philemon:

Amy Erickson, Charles Sturt University

Shola Adegbite, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York

Pieter Botha, University of South Africa

Nathan Esala, Capital University

Discussion

Performing Philemon: A rhetoric of accommodation or of crypto-revolution?

Paper by Marlon Winedt Nov 21, 2022

The joint session of Performance Criticism of the Bible and Other Ancient Texts (PC-BOAT) and Rhetoric and Early Christianity at the 2022 SBL Annual Meeting.

The letter of Philemon can be analyzed from different rhetorical perspectives. There are important points of contention: the nature of the relationship between Onesimus and Philemon, Paul and Onesimus and the latter's position as to the Christian faith. This paper intends to give some performance clues to the text of Philemon based on two particular rhetorical perspectives of the text, informed by an Afro-Caribbean theological perspective where notions of creole identity and emancipation play an important role. Semantic, rhetorical, and “spatial” units for performance will be illustrated. The presentation will be accompanied by a live performance of parts of the letter, showing alternate performance choices based on these two different rhetorical perspectives.

Watch the paper and performance:

New Testament as Oral Performance

Lecture and Performances by David Rhoads

Presented at Moravian Seminary in 2016

Before they were set down in writing, the gospels and epistles of the New Testament were transmitted orally to transform and empower early Christian communities. In many parts of the world, the Bible is still heard and spoken much more than it is read. As scholars are increasingly aware, the orality of biblical traditions deeply conditioned the ways in which they were originally composed, presented, and understood; and a full and accurate understanding of the Bible requires an awareness of its “performative” character. These lectures will highlight the oral dimension of the gospel message, illustrating it with performances of portions of Mark and of Paul’s letter to Philemon.

Lecture 1: The Gospels as Oral Performances In the predominantly oral cultures of antiquity, the Gospels were first experienced as storytelling events designing to transform and empower communities. The lecture will illustrate this with a performance of the first part of the Gospel of Mark.

Lecture 2: Letters as Oral Performances The original recipients of New Testament epistles experienced them as oral presentations. What difference does it make to experience a letter as a performance? The lecture will include a demonstration of Paul’s letter to Philemon.

Clck to watch the video:

The New Testament as Oral Performance from Moravian Seminary on Vimeo.