Pauline Texts Research Articles

Rethinking identity theory in light of the in-Christ identity in the African context

In social identity theory, the in-Christ identity is understood as primarily a socially directed process in which people categorise themselves relative to other groups. Intergroup behaviour would cause them to discriminate against the so-called ‘outgroup’, favouring the so-called ‘ingroup’. Although social identity complexity theory has moved beyond single ingroup-outgroup categorisation, it is a question if social identity theories can fully account for the in-Christ identity, especially within an African context. In African religious identity, identity is linked to both the community and the ruling deities, which are perceived to be real entities that intervene in human affairs and identity, presupposing a supernaturalistic epistemology.Contribution: In this contribution, the naturalistic epistemological underpinnings of social identity theories are reconsidered in light of a supernatural aspect that is argued to be constitutive of the 1st century in-Christ identity as well as the African Christian identity. Amid current approaches to the in-Christ identity, which is mainly a Pauline concept, some of the main Pauline texts that have bearing on the in-Christ identity are revisited in light of current theories and epistemologies on identity.

Paul's Ambivalent Parrēsia

The Pauline texts are often associated with frankness of expression and boldness in argument. However, scrutiny of the letters suggests some caution in ascribing to Pauline rhetoric or expression the audaciousness that has come to characterise descriptions of Pauline rhetoric in modern scholarship. While a somewhat reluctant boldness emerges from a broader survey of the parrēs-lemma and related notions in the NT generally, a gender-attuned appraisal of Paul's self-presentation in his letters brings to light the fluid environment in which he attempted to establish himself and exercise his authority. The portrait of a triumphant Paul of the interpretive tradition invokes a discursive boldness that both hides instances of rhetorical hesitancy and obscures the careful, guarded, and even timid moments in his letters. Pauline parrēsia is best described as ambivalent.

Apocalyptic Interpretations of Galatians and the Faithfulness of God

Abstract Galatians regularly predominates in contemporary discussions of Paul’s “apocalyptic” theology. In this essay, two forms of apocalyptic interpretation of Galatians are presented – a “perfected” and a “non-perfected” apocalyptic interpretation in relation to two key test cases: Gal 4,4–5 and 6,16. That discussion then requires a survey of Paul’s discourse of divine faithfulness in other undisputed Pauline texts. In the process, an important but neglected theological axis within Galatians is enhanced, enabling a balanced articulation of the relationship between the novelty of God’s ‘apocalyptic invasion’ in Christ and God’s longstanding faithfulness even prior to the sending of the Son.

„… und redet seltsam wie sonst nirgends in der Schrift“

Abstract In Paul’s writing style we often find a literary we. But why does Paul write “in our hearts”, even if his own one is meant. This wording is not an error, but tries to include all who read or listen to his letter. The other way around in 2 Cor 3,15 he changes the wording: “the heart of people”, because he tries to use here the biblical sentence of Ex 34,34 in a new understanding, in which “the heart” of 2 Cor 3,15 shall be the subject of the phrase of Ex 34,34 that he’ll cite in V. 16. KJV translates correctly: “Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.” But the greatest problem of the Pauline text is the fact that he seems to read the text of Ex 34 not in the same terms as we know it. In the beginning of his allegorical interpretation Paul implements what he had said in V. 7: Like Philo, Vit Mos 70, Paul tells the story that Moses hid the splendour of his face until Israel could look at him. It is our problem to see that Paul neglects the fact, that the biblical text doesn’t mention a δόξα that disappeared, but until the last verse of Ex 34 we can read: “And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.” But this doesn’t metter for Paul, for by the words of V. 13 combined with V. 7 he alters the perspective: There was an end of Moses’ doxa, but not an end of his vail. By the way of hardening this vail endured on the heart of Israel until “it shall turn to the Lord”.

Would Paul Have Written Something Like This? The Justification Clause of Philippians 3:12 and the Last Judgment

Abstract A reading that has Paul claiming he has not already been justified (οὐχ … ἢ ἤδη δεδικαίωμαι) appears in some important witnesses to the text of Phil 3:12 (e.g., P46, 06, Irenaeus [Latin translation], Ambrosiaster). Known as “the justification clause,” this variant reading is often dismissed as spurious based (in part) on the assumption that Paul would not have written any such thing. In this article the author challenges this assumption. Included is an overview of Paul’s wider theology of justification, an examination of the four texts in the Pauline Letters in which verbal forms of justification terminology appear in the future tense, and a discussion of three additional Pauline texts in which future justification is implied. These analyses clarify that the reading is compatible with Paul’s use of justification language elsewhere and is coherent as a reference to final justification at the last judgment.

Lisa M. Bowens, African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, & Transformation

Abstract Reception history is gaining popularity as an interpretive approach to Scripture. The dearth of extant primary sources in biblical interpretation from the African American community before the Civil Rights Era can present challenges for hearing black voices in reception history. In her remarkable monograph, Lisa Bowens examines sermons, letters, public addresses, and essays from African Americans, as early as the eighteenth century, surveying their engagement and interpretation of Pauline texts and Paul as a biblical figure. Her work elevates the voices of African Americans, while presenting an exceptional model of reception history at work. Her research demonstrates early African Americans using Scripture, particularly the letters and life of Paul, for rebuttal and reform of social injustices.

Rituals and the Gendering of Children in the Pauline Letters

Abstract: This paper explores the role of ritual in gendering children in biblical settings and in the NT in particular. In ancient society children were gendered in many ways, and rituals played important if different roles in the various contemporary contexts. In Roman society contemporary to the NT, the toga virilis ritual gendered boys and signalled their adulthood, their coming of age as adult men. In the NT where various socio-cultural contexts intersected, the Jewish frame of reference informs the references to certain rituals with circumcision taking pride of place. Such sentiments also inform the discourse of the Pauline letters, where distinctions between non-gendered children and male children (sons) carry significance. Tracing a few Pauline texts, the ritualised aspects of the gendering of children in the NT are considered.

‘Women, forgive us’: A German case study

This article offers insight into the image of women in German conservative congregations, especially in the Brethren movement. It also describes the author’s personal journey to a position of strongly supporting female preaching and female leadership in churches. The article combines empirical facts and personal insights. It gives examples of androcentrism in German academic theology. The case study is on the Brethren movement in Germany and their teaching on women, which was very much influenced by certain Pauline texts from the New Testament. Unfortunately, ‘women’s role in the church’ became the shibboleth for biblical correctness. While living and working in this context, the author discovered inconsistencies in practice, which finally led to this paradigm shift. Contribution: It is argued that if women are not allowed to participate publicly in the church services, it is like driving a car with four cylinders but turning off two cylinders.

Volker Rabens, Jacqueline N. Grey, and Mariam Kamell Kovalishyn, eds. Key Approaches to Biblical Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue

Volker Rabens, Jacqueline N. Grey, and Mariam Kamell Kovalishyn, eds. <i>Key Approaches to Biblical Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue</i>

On the Debate Between the Paulines and the Rabbis in Late Antiquity Around the Body and Sexuality and Its Significance to the Present Day, Through D. Boyarin’s Postmodern View

The goal of the present paper is to formulate a concise framework for part of Daniel Boyarin’s work which he is most known for, namely his analysis of sexuality in late antiquity Judaism and the critique of contemporary culture he eventually derived from it, above all his objections to the idea of the Jewish nation-state. Within the brief scope here I intend to provide the reader with a simple roadmap for orienting oneself in Boyarin’s relevant literature. Boyarin, a Jewish-American scholar, traces rabbinic, Jewish-Hellenic, and Pauline texts that he believes were part of one arc of Jewish culture in Palestine of late antiquity, and reveals the discourse that was at the center of this one Jewish culture, namely that the famous debate between Judaism and Christianity was essentially over the interpretation of the physical body and sexuality in the Bible, a debate during which critical cultural decisions were made that still have an impact on Western society today in the realms of gender and identity. Through his original “cultural reading” that employs critical current postmodern methods, Boyarin demonstrates that both have complex ethical and political issues, such as rigid hierarchies, colonialism, and racism, but they also have a lot of promise, namely that by examining them side by side, the possibility of finding a more just alternative for our present and future is increased, through mutual correction of each other.

(Con)texturing Ideologies of Modesty, Authority, and Childbearing in 1 Timothy 2:8–15

Feminist and gender critical biblical scholarship has shown how texts ideologically function as products of their ancient social and cultural norms. In my dissertation work on Pauline texts, through isolating the ideological component of socio-rhetorical-interpretation, I demonstrated how these texts are “ideologically textured” within their ancient social context. In this article, I bring a combination of approaches from ideological criticism and theoretical insights from feminist criticism to bear on both the biblical text of 1 Timothy 2:8–15 and contemporary interpretations of this text. The latter is exemplified by the conservative Christian blogger, “The Transformed Wife.” Beginning with an examination of how both Paul and the blogger establish authority amongst believing communities, I then interrogate three areas of focus within their ideological purview: modesty, authority, and childbearing. I conclude that (con)texturing (a taxonomy of approaches that I propose which reads for ideological texture within text and context) provides a productive way to engage with the enduring influence of biblical texts and their harmful interpretations for wo/men.

Edwin C. van Driel. Rethinking Paul: Protestant Theology and Pauline Exegesis

Edwin C. van Driel. <i>Rethinking Paul: Protestant Theology and Pauline Exegesis</i>

“Two-Stage” Spirit Reception in the Writings of Paul

Abstract In his 2017 article, “Subsequence in the Pauline Epistles,” Robert Menzies asked, “Is the pentecostal doctrine of subsequence compatible with Paul’s pneumatological perspective?” His answer was yes, based especially on 2 Timothy 1:6–7 and Romans 1:11. However, he notes, “most scholars” reject this position. Building on 1 Corinthians 12:13 and a perceived absence of Spirit reception in Paul’s epistles, these authors would agree with D.A. Carson that “Paul stands positively against” seeing Spirit baptism as “a post-conversion enduement of the Spirit to be pursued by each believer.”1 This article takes up Menzies’ question and builds on his work. It begins with a summary of his article, investigates whether 1 Corinthians 12:13 contradicts a “two-stage” model of Spirit reception, and then examines nine Pauline texts that add more support to Menzies’ proposal. The findings are summarized at the end.

Messiah and Scripture: Paul’s “In Christ” Idiom in Its Ancient Jewish Context.

Messiah and Scripture: Paul’s “In Christ” Idiom in Its Ancient Jewish Context.

Being ‘in Christ’ in the Letters of Paul.

Being ‘in Christ’ in the Letters of Paul.

Mission and Principalities and Powers Reconsidered

This article examines the implications for public witness of the Pauline notion of principalities and powers with reference to Bosch, Newbigin, Bevans and Schroeder, Acolatse, Wink, Barth, and Moltmann. It critiques popular contemporary ideas of “spiritual warfare” in light of the relevant Pauline texts and theological arguments. It examines the theological idea that the source of evil lies in godlessness and how this idea illuminates the concept of principalities and powers for contemporary Christian practice. It argues that it is the mission of the church to publicly bear witness and to evangelize the principalities and powers in both personal and systemic forms while maintaining a humble but firm trust in the liberating work of Christ.

Paul and the Ancient Celebrity Circuit: The Cross and Moral Transformation

Paul and the Ancient Celebrity Circuit: The Cross and Moral Transformation

How to Understand What Passes All Understanding: Using the Documentary Papyri to Understand εἰρήνη in Paul

In popular culture, the Pauline texts referring to ‘peace’ are illustrated by serene and tranquil scenes. I shall argue that to Paul's first readers, ‘peace’ evoked rather different images – military victories, arrests of criminals and the unloading of corn. I argue this because of how εἰρήνη is normally used in documentary papyri, that is personal letters, administrative documents and other non-literary written material. I explain my method and then present the papyrological evidence, including references to the various ‘peace-officials’. I argue that εἰρήνη meant something like ‘good order’. I use this insight to interpret Rom 5.1 and Phil 4.7.

Tom Wright and The Search For Truth: A Theological Evaluation by Tom Holland

Reviewed by: Tom Wright and The Search For Truth: A Theological Evaluation by Tom Holland Adam Z. Wright tom holland, Tom Wright and The Search For Truth: A Theological Evaluation (London: Apiary, 2017). Pp. 495. $39.95. In this book, Holland draws attention to a number of perceived fallacies in the work of Tom Wright. The book is divided into thirteen chapters each of which focuses on a particular theological issue: the contributions of Wright; Saul and his political identity; Paul and his theological identity; Paul and his intellectual identity; Paul’s use of Hellenistic language and imagery; Paul’s use of Second Temple literature; Paul’s understanding of christology; Paul’s doctrine of atonement; Wright’s doctrine of justification; Paul’s doctrine of justification; justification in Romans and Galatians; justification in Paul’s other letters; and Wright’s theological method. Each chapter ranges from thirty to seventy pages and contains several subsections. It is clear from the earliest pages that H. deeply respects N. T. Wright’s contributions to the field of NT studies. This is demonstrated in his summary of Wright’s entrance into the field, going so far as to state that “much of what W has written has been excellent” and that he has done much to help “Christians to see the importance of the OT for interpreting the NT” (p. 34). This sets the tone for much of what follows, and it is clear that this work is more a respectful clash of ideas than a clash of characters. The strengths of the book are many. The book treats a large number of topics and discusses each in great detail. H. does a good job of choosing the most prevalent issues from within Wright’s large corpus of material and masterfully dismantles many of the logical fallacies therein. One of the more interesting examples can be found in the second and third chapters, in which H. discusses Wright’s opinion that Paul was a zealot. He carefully [End Page 145] dismantles this claim by going into great detail about a more fundamental premise in Paul’s writing, namely, his reliance on a doctrine of suffering and servanthood. Another positive aspect of this book is the very lengthy treatment (approximately sixty pages) of the doctrine of justification. In it, H. carefully examines the Pauline texts on the subject and argues, contra Wright, that Paul understands justification to include the gentiles and not simply individual Jews. There are a number of weaknesses in this book, however, and the first relates to type-setting. The spacing for page numbers––especially in chap. 7––is compressed, making it difficult to read the numbers correctly. This issue also appears in the table of contents: see the title for chap. 7 (p. 25). This is a very odd typesetting mistake to encounter since it seems very easy to fix. The second weakness lies in the content, in particular H.’s treatment of Hellenistic influences in the writing of the NT. It becomes quite clear in the first three chapters that H. wants to “liberate” the NT from any Hellenistic influence whatsoever. For example, H. states, “[O]nce the idea of Greek control is removed, previously unrecognized Old Testament theological themes break out of the New Testament text” (p. 61). It is not obvious, then, how a Hellenistic influence was not present considering, to start, that Paul was speaking and writing in the Greek language. I think this is a potentially damaging position to take, and one that is not explained thoroughly enough. A third weakness concerns H.’s linguistic analysis, which stems from my second critique. H. correctly asserts that a word’s context should determine how that word is understood (p. 63). He then notes that the Hebrew word ‘ebed is used in a variety of contexts and must therefore have a number of distinct connotations. This is juxtaposed with the words pais and doulos, which, H. argues, are used arbitrarily in the translation from Hebrew into Greek in the LXX. This arbitrariness has thus led to a number of interpretive issues for both NT writers and later interpreters of the NT. The problem that H. faces by adopting this...

Didaktiska reflektioner om judendom, stereotyper och tankefigurer

This article addresses the issue of teaching Judaism for students in the teacher-training programme and those training to become clergy in a Swedish milieu. A major challenge in the secular post-Protestant setting is to pinpoint and challenge the negative presuppositions of Judaism as a religion of legalism, whereas the student’s own assumption is that she or he is neutral. Even if the older paradigms of anti-Jewish stereotypes are somewhat distant, there are further patterns of thought which depict Judaism as a ‘strange’ and ‘legalistic’ religion. Students in the teacher-training programme for teaching religion in schools can in class react negatively to concepts like kosher slaughter, circumcision and the Shabbat lift. Even if the explanatory motives vary, there is nonetheless a tendency common to ordination students, relating to a Protestant notion of the Jewish Torah, commonly rendered as ‘Law’ or ‘legalism’. This notion of ‘the Law’ as a means of self-redemption can, it is argued in the article, be discerned specially among clergy students reading Pauline texts and theology. This analysis shows that both teacher-training and textbooks need to be updated in accordance with modern research in order to refute older anti-Jewish patterns of thought. As for the challenge posed by the simplistic labelling of both Judaism and Islam as religions of law, the implementation of the teaching guidelines concerning everyday ‘lived religion’ enables and allows the teacher to better disclose Judaism, Christianity and Islam as piously organised living faiths rather than as being ruled by legalistic principles.