The Meaning of the Motif of Michael the Archangel’s Dispute with the Devil (Jude 9). A Socio-Rhetorical Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the persuasive functions of the Archangel Michael motif in the Letter of Jude 9 and examine how the laconic reference serves argumentation in the letter and how it affects the recipients. We used methods of interpretation in the field of socio-rhetoric according to the interpretation model of V. R. Robbins adapted to the needs of this study: rhetorical analysis, intertextual relations and analysis of the pivotal values of the first-century Mediterranean world. The analyzes lead to the conclusion that the condensed form of the allusion to the Archangel Michael motif makes it possible to refer to the crisis of the addressees simultaneously on many levels. It serves positive argumentation based on the ethos, uses the strength of the rich interpretation tradition of the motif and is the key to the proper implementation of the answer in the mechanism challenge-riposte and defining the threat to community identity.

Keywords

• Letter of Jude 9
• Archangel Michael
• exemplum
• socio-rhetoric
• intertextuality
• honor and shame