Paul as a Child: Children and Childhood in the Letters of the Apostle

Abstract

(ProQuest-CSA LLC: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.) Little is known about what the childhood of the apostle Paul was like,1 or about how he related to children in Christian families and in his communities.2 Considerably more can be known, however, about his views of children and of childhood as a phase of life.3 In addition, we can observe how he employed these ideas in his strategies toward his addressees. In this article I examine Paul's ideas on children and childhood and the way he employs them in his letters. My aim is twofold: to offer a systematic presentation of Paul's language concerning children and childhood, and to show-contrary to several scholars-that his use of this language is considerably more nuanced and distinctive in character than has been realized. During recent years several scholars have drawn attention to the widespread use of kinship language in Paul, especially the sibling (brother/sister) and the parent/child terminology.4 In this kind of language, which is usually employed metaphorically of Christians, many see a reflection of ideas and ideals associated with the family in antiquity: Christians are to relate to one another in ways similar to those of the family, with its structures and mentalities.5 Many of these scholars have focused on how Paul uses such kinship language as a rhetorical means to regulate his relations to his fellow Christians, and in particular to further his own authority.6 Several maintain that Paul by this language exercises a strong control over his communities. This has particularly been emphasized by scholars studying Paul from the perspectives of power and of gender. For instance, Elizabeth A. Castelli has brought attention to Paul's idea of imitation in 1 Corinthians, and of the Corinthians imitating Paul as children to a father (4:1621), and she argues that this forms part of a discourse of power that aims at leaving his authority uncontested and at securing sameness instead of difference.7 Similarly in the case of 1 Thessalonians, Lone Fatum maintains that Paul employs parent/child metaphors in the letter to strengthen his authority and further male prominence, with the effect that women become only associate members of the Thessalonian brotherhood, viz., through their men.8 Below I argue, however, that such readings are highly problematic. Considerable energy has been expended on Paul's parent/child language, particularly his metaphorical use of it.9 Usually, however, scholars have paid attention only to the parent side-for example, Paul as father. Far less effort has been put into the study of the place of children.10 Thus, my focus here will be on Paul's language referring to childhood. Although some scholars have dealt with aspects of this, none has discussed its character and function in a systematic fashion. Since Paul's language pertaining to parents/children is closely related to his language referring to childhood, some of this material will be included in the discussions below. All along, I shall also be attentive to how Paul conforms to or deviates from general attitudes in antiquity toward children and childhood. Owing to the limited space, I can refer only briefly to characteristic features concerning these matters.11 Paul's childhood terminology can be categorized in various ways.12 One is to distinguish between a concrete and a metaphorical usage. For instance, Paul speaks of children in a social-biological sense in 1 Cor 7:14 (children with parents of mixed faith); 1 Cor 13:11 (of himself as a child); Gal 1:15 (of himself as a fetus); and Gal 4:1 (of children as heirs).13 Metaphorical usage outweighs the concrete by far, however. For example, Paul repeatedly speaks of Christians as children of God (Rom 8:16-17,21; 9:7-8; etc.) or as his own children (e.g., 1 Cor 4:14-21; Phil 2:22; Phlm 10). This distinction between concrete and metaphorical is not very fruitful for our purposes, however, since Paul's attitudes toward children and childhood are reflected in both usages, and in a parallel way: notions connected with being a child of God are not likely to differ much from those of being a child of a human being. …