Constructing Euodia And Syntyche: Philippians 4:2-3 And The Informed Imagination -- By: Robert F. Hull, Jr.

Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 30:2 (Spring 2016)
Article: Constructing Euodia And Syntyche: Philippians 4:2-3 And The Informed Imagination
Author: Robert F. Hull, Jr.


Constructing Euodia And Syntyche:
Philippians 4:2-3 And The Informed Imagination

Robert F. Hull Jr.

Robert F. Hull is Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Emmanuel Christian Seminary in eastern Tennessee. This article first appeared in a 2014 Festschrift titled One in Christ Jesus, a volume honoring S. Scott Bartchy on the occasion of his retirement from the UCLA Department of History. It is reprinted with minimal editing and with kind permission from the author, from Festschrift editors David L. Matson and K. C. Richardson, and from Wipf and Stock Publishers.

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. (Phil 4:2-3 NRSV)

Of Provocation And Frustration

This essay was provoked by a sermon I heard more than twenty-five years ago. The preacher was a better-than-average homiletician with his Master of Divinity from a quality seminary. In dealing with the theme of unity and discord within the church, he took as an example, Euodia and Syntyche, “or,” he said, “as I prefer to call them, ‘You’re-Odious’ and ‘Sure-Touchy.’” I thought it a pretty creative laugh line, whether the preacher invented the names or not. At the same time, I found it troubling. It is the only comment I remember from the sermon, probably because I had by that time encountered many exemplary women students struggling to be taken seriously both by their male counterparts in seminary and the churches they hoped to serve. Even a cursory reading of the Letter to the Philippians had made it clear to me that, whatever the nub of the problem was between these two co- workers of Paul, it should not be trivialized into a “cat fight” or a “hen fight” between a couple of prickly women.1 There had to have been more at stake than personal issues.

At the same time, it is enormously difficult to say exactly what was at stake and why Paul found it necessary in such a short letter to “call out” two women before the whole congregation. Everything we know about them and their situation is divulged in only thirty-eight words. The history of the exegesis of these thirty- eight words is a record of both the ingenuity and the desperation of interpreters of the text. In the brief survey that follows, my goal is to sift out from the efforts of this train of interpreters what I regard as the most probable construction of Euodia and Syntyche of Philippi. I use the word “construction” rather than “reconstruction” a...

You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe
visitor : : uid: ()