Paulus als Philosoph: Das Ethos des Apostels vor dem Hintergrund antiker Populärphilosophie by Kristin Divjanović

Abstract

Reviewed by: Paulus als Philosoph: Das Ethos des Apostels vor dem Hintergrund antiker Populärphilosophie by Kristin Divjanović James Swetnam kristin divjanović, Paulus als Philosoph: Das Ethos des Apostels vor dem Hintergrund antiker Populärphilosophie (NTAbh n.F. 58; Münster: Aschendorff, 2015). Pp. viii + 434. €58. This work is basically the published version of a dissertation presented by Kristin Divjanović to the Catholic Faculty of the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main in March of 2015. It is a carefully written, highly informative work that enables the reader to get a less imperfect insight into one of the great saints of Christian history by setting him among the "philosophers" of his time. To begin with, after working his way through the book, this reviewer suggests that the title should be "Paul among the Philosophers" (Paulus unter den Philosophen?). D. makes clear that she does not regard Paul as such a philosopher (taken in the meaning of the times) but as a person analogous to a philosopher. See p. 403, among other places, where she notes at the end of her exhaustive study that Paul distances himself from human wisdom to speak rather God's wisdom. The subtitle of the book is right: "The Ethos of the Apostle against the Background of Ancient Popular Philosophy." The work is divided into an introduction, a main part, and a summary of results. For an initial grasp of what the book offers the reader is advised to go to the summary of results. But for the reader interested in details mentioned in the summary, the main part is carefully divided into subsections that are clearly identified in the table of contents. Everywhere there is abundant use of primary and secondary sources. The former, in Greek or Latin, are always translated into German. The latter are mainly in German and English. But such citations are made for the sake of illustrating a point and not, as happens at times in published dissertations, for the sake of disgorging all information resulting from research. This reviewer found part 4 of the main section the most illuminating. There D. writes about the "peristasen" that are the part of every human's life—that is, those challenges to the equilibrium that human beings instinctively desire as the milieu of their existence. After discussing these circumstances that "stand around," as viewed by some philosophers, D. analyzes seven passages from Paul's letters: 1 Cor 4:8-16; 2 Cor 4:7-12; 6:4-10; 11:23-29; 12:9-10; Phil 4:11-13; and Rom 8:31-35. [End Page 521] Romans 8:31-35 was of special interest to the reviewer because of the allusion in v. 32 to Genesis 22 and Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son Isaac, the son who metaphorically and prophetically died and rose from the dead as a foreshadowing of the real death and rising from the dead of Christ Jesus. The generosity of Abraham thus foreshadows the generosity of God for "us," that is, all those for whom God's own son died and rose. Then the a fortiori inference: if God did not spare his only son, he will surely grant the blessings to all nations (i.e., including the gentiles) that he promised would be given to Abraham through his seed because of the faith of Abraham (and of Christ Jesus!), testified to by their works (v. 33). It is God who justifies Abraham and Christ Jesus and thus will confute any charge made against us who put our faith in God through belief in Abraham and Christ Jesus. Who condemns if Christ intercedes? (v. 34). (Here Paul is undoubtedly thinking of all the Jewish and gentile enemies of himself and his fellow Christians. All this has been prepared for in Rom 1:16-17.) Then comes the real profundity: all the above is a sign of God's love for us, which Paul then places in contrast to the challenging peristasen he personally has experienced (vv. 35-37). Here is the configuration of the interior life of Paul to the interior life of the God for whom the apostle has been called to dedicate his life...