Paul and The Pauline Letters: Home

This study introduces its readers to the different aspects of the study of the apostle Paul.It aims primarily not to present it's author's own interpretation of Paul,but to introduce students to the differing positions and methods developed by contemporary scholars in Pauline studies.By setting out these views,and the evidence on which they are based,it equips the reader to approach the study of Paul with an awareness of the range of current debate and a knowledge of the evidence and arguments they will encounter.

In The Paul Quest we encounter Paul as an ancient Mediterranean personality and watch him operate in a social environment where honor,shame,patronage and corporate identity are daily considerations.We discover new dimensions of Paul's letters as we observe him dictating his letters and gauging his rhetoric.We enter into the field of controversy where Paul the apostle and prophet encounters his opponents.We reconsider the nature of the human body and Christian community as we meet Paul the anthropologist and champion of woman and slave.Paul,the man of the Big Idea,shows himself to be in truth a storyteller and interpreter of Israel's holy history.In and through all of these complexities,Paul shows himself to be a consistent and coherent theologian and ethicist whose thinking reaches out across nearly two thousand years to engage men and women today.

Jurgen Becker, one of the most respected German New Testament scholars, delves into the person, world, work, letters, and thought of Paul in order to provide a comprehensive and thorough study that answers both historical and theological questions. He gives a detailed, careful, and imaginative presentation of the chronology of Paul's life and he works diligently through evidence available concerning the Hellenistic world in which Paul, Judaism, and early Christianity existed. For each letter, readers learn of the city to which Paul wrote, the situation Paul faced, the literary integrity of the epistle, and of its structure and line of argument.

This book builds on and develops a new approach to Paul being formulated by a group of scholars (including Tom Wright). The book first outlines different angles that have been taken (accent on his Jewishness, his citizenship, his approach to the Law, his determination to bring in non-Jews) etc. It then puts forward, as a coherent thesis, the new approach that will be expanded on in the next large volume in the Christian Origins and the Question of God series. The book is based on the prestigious Hulsean Lectures he gave at Cambridge.

Introduction: Reimagining the church -- A community like no other : the key themes : from Paul's first letter -- Not just any body : the church and Paul's corporate christology -- The church made visible : baptism and the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans -- Spiritual formation is corporate formation : the transformative church in Romans and 2 Corinthians -- Justification is about unification : the death of Jesus and the people of God in Romans and Galatians -- "Missional" may not mean what you think : evangelism and social action according to Paul -- The universal church is the local church : koinōnia according to Paul -- Discovering the real megachurch : cosmic church and house church in the disputed letters -- Leadership like no other for a community like no other : authority and ministry in the undisputed letters -- Conclusion: The church after Christendom

Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology and Practice takes the view that before anything else Paul must first and foremost be identified as a "missionary". Using the entire Pauline corpus the contributors to this volume assess what Paulʹs correspondence can tell us about how he perceived his role and identity. The work comprises four parts: in section one, Paulʹs identity as priest, eschatological herald, and missionary-pastor are explored while in part two topics such as the apostleʹs activity among pagans, his suffering, and Paulʹs "missionary message" to the church at Rome are considered. Section three comprises essays on the Spirit as the governing dynamic, the glory of God as the apostleʹs missionary goal, and the importance of Paulʹs Christology in shaping his mission to the Gentiles. Finally, part four addresses Paulʹs missionary praxis, including his support of his missionary enterprise.

In this highly original introduction to Paul's life and thought,E.P.Sanders,whose research on Paul has substantially influenced recent scholarship,pays equal attention to Paul's fundamental convictions and the sometimes convoluted ways in which they were worked out.

Brevard Childs here turns his sharp scholarly eye to the works of the apostle Paul and makes an unusual argument: the New Testament was canonically shaped, its formation a hermeneutical exercise in which its anonymous apostles and postapostolic editors collected, preserved, and theologically shaped the material in order for the evangelical traditions to serve successive generations of Christians. Childs contends that within the New Testament the Pauline corpus stands as a unit bookended by Romans and the Pastoral Epistles. He assigns an introductory role to Romans, examining how it puts the contingencies of Paul's earlier letters into context without sacrificing their particularity. At the other end, the Pastoral Epistles serve as a concluding valorization of Paul as the church's doctrinal model. By considering Paul's works as a whole, Childs offers a way to gain a fuller understanding of the individual letters.

Paul's apostolic authority? / E. Best -- Paul and the Pharisaic tradition / D. Luhrmann -- Acts and the Pauline corpus reconsidered / W.O. Walder -- Typology, correspondence, and the application / J.W. Aageson -- The Midrash in 2 Corinthians 3: A reconsideration -- 'And rose up to play': Midrash and paraenesis in 1 Corinthians 10:1-22 / W.A. Meeks -- The role of the tenth commandment in Romans 7 / J.A. Ziesler -- Spheres of influence: A possible solution to the problem of Paul and the law / K. Snodgrass -- The demonstration of the righteousness of God in Romans 3:25-26 / J. Piper -- Early eschatological development in Paul: The evidence of 1 Corinthians / C.L. Mearns -- Apocalyptic visions and the exaltation of Christ in the letter to the colossians / C. Rowland -- Hellenistic letter-forms and the structure of Philippians / L. Alexander -- Mirror-reading a Polemical letter: Galatians as a test case / J.M.G. Barlay -- The pastoral epistles and the ethiscs of reading / F. Young

These insights on the literary structure and theological argumentation ofPaul's letters lead to a deeper and more unified understanding ofPaul's message and spirituality. Explanations of apocalyptic literature, eschatology, and the kenotic hymn (Phil. 2:6-11) contribute to this thorough study ofPaul's mind and theology.