ABSTRACT
This chapter is an example of what I would like to call a gender hermeneutical approach to the communication of Paul. First I shall present a reading of 1 Thess in which I do not really pretend to present anything new to those already familiar with narrative and rhetorical criticism. Then I shall examine the socio-sexual structure of Paul’s symbolic universe, drawing on insights from sociology of knowledge, social history, and cultural anthropology. Finally I shall focus on the gender ideological implications of 1 Thess concerning the historical construction of the Pauline community after the model of the patriarchal family. How does Paul stage himself and his audience in 1 Thess, and how does he apply the hierarchic code of the family model to the Christian association? What are the implications for women converts of Paul’s ideal of the eschatological brotherhood, and what may we conclude concerning the Thessalonian women from his effort to organise and administer the community as male kin, his dependent sons in Christ?
