Le troisième ciel dans 2 Co 11, 30 – 12, 10

In Antiquity there existed various conceptions of the structure of the universe and also of heaven. In many cosmogonies the idea of a plurality of heavens can be found. In different cultures and at different epochs people believed in the existence of three, five, seven or even ten heavens. In the twelfth chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians, saint Paul declares that he was ecstatically caught up to the third heaven. In this contribution, we try and determine the rhetorical function, in the passage of 2 Co 11, 30-12, 10, of the story of the heavenly voyage and specify whether Paul was inspired by one of the conceptions of the heaven’ s structure or whether the idea of the ≪ third heaven ≫ was more likely metaphorical.