You More than Owe Me This Benefit: Onomastic Rhetoric in Philemon

Wordplay and punning involving the names Philemon (F???µ??, "affectionate one") and Onesimus (???s?µ??, "useful") and their meanings, with concomitant paronomasia involving the name-title ???st?? (Christos) and various homonymic terms, constitutes a key element in Paul's polite, diplomatic, and carefully-worded letter to Philemon, the Christian owner of a converted slave named Onesimus. Paul artfully uses Philemon's own name to play on the latter's affections and to remind him that despite ...