Endurance, Greek and early Christian: The moral transformation of the Greek idea of endurance, from the Homeric battlefield to the apostle Paul

From a diachronic perspective this dissertation is a study of the history, evolution and transformation of a Greek military attribute--endurance--into a major philosophical concept. Furthermore I investigate the place, function and rhetoric of this transformed notion in various branches of Greek philosophy and its expression in a "demilitarized" and "militarized" format. From a synchronic perspective I investigate this Greek notion's abiding impact upon Roman philosophy, early Jewish martyria literature (esp. 4 Maccabees & Testament of Job), and in particular upon the earliest extant documents of Christianity, the letters of the apostle Paul (esp. 2 Corinthians 6.4-10, 11.1-12.12, Galatians 5.1 & 1 Corinthians 16.13).;My analysis begins with an investigation of this heroic concept in its most natural matrix--the battlefield--first attested in European literature in the Iliad as well as in subsequent Greek literary and artistic descriptions dealing with warfare (esp. Tyrtaeus, Thucydides and Arrian). The warrior standing firm with courage in the thick of battle becomes a figure of praise, the archetypical image of Greek masculinity and heroism. Upon this capacity for battle endurance rested the security and the freedom of the warrior's polis (in post-Homeric times). From its military setting this concept would exercise a widespread impact. It entered into the vocabulary and concepts of Greek athletics, art, poetry, drama but most importantly philosophy where it would undergo a radical transformation, becoming an aggressive moral virtue in contexts of conflict, hardship, danger, persecution and martyrdom. Diachronically I trace this process of appropriation and transformation from Democritus, Plato and Aristotle, to the Cynics and Stoics, especially Seneca.;The sage figuratively portrays himself as a warrior standing firm in battle against attacking enemies, whether internal (passions, desires, vainglory) or external (the strokes of Tyche)--a basic "combat" motif which is almost never found in ancient Israelite or Judahite literature (cf. Jeremiah 1.17-19). Moral endurance is now thoroughly "demilitarized," though still considered one of the aggressive ethical virtues. In this form, endurance is understood within the framework of certain characteristics (e.g. wise and foolish endurance; a separation from its links with courage) and specific rhetorical conventions (e.g. the comparison, peristasis catalogue, list of virtues and self-praise). The sage's appropriation of this military notion signals a claim to a paradigm shift in the ancient Greek model of heroic endurance. The sage of endurance now declares himself as the new "virile man.".;In section 2, I analyze the Pauline concept of moral endurance against the background of Greek and Roman philosophical traditions of endurance. I argue that Paul basically participates in many of the features of philosophical endurance rather than Hebraic notions of endurance (e.g. Job). It appears both in its "demilitarized" and "militarized" formats. It remains an aggressive virtue in contexts of hardship and conflict. In its demilitarized form Paul re-echoes many of the rhetorical and conceptual elements of the sage's endurance (esp. 2 Cor. 6.4-10 & 11.1-12.12). In his militarized usage, Paul draws upon the Greco-Roman philosophical tradition of the "stand firm" exhortation. In the history of ideas, Paul's unique contribution in the development of this concept revolves around his Christ-centered ethics and the alliance of this aggressive moral attribute with the gentler charism of love (...