Concealment of art? Paul and the ancient Rhetoric

Paul seems neither to know anything about rhetoric nor to appreciate it. On the one hand he calls himself an 'amateur in speech' (2 Cor 11.6). On the other hand he rejects rhetoric as part of the wisdom of the world (1 Cor 1-4). Such statements could, however, be a rhetorical strategy, which belongs todissimulatio artis('concealment of (rhetorical) art'). Thus, while Paul seems to dissociate himself from rhetoric, he might in some way declare himself for rhetoric. This article gives a survey of the realisation ofdissimulatioand of its functions in pagan literature of antiquity and deals with the question whether this rhetorical means is to be found in Paul's letters.