Paul: A Brief History (Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion)

Description

Seesengood traces the life and impact of Paul – one of Christianity’s most influential figures – through the major periods Christian history. Exploring the changing interpretations of Paul and his work, the author throws new light on his writings and on religious history.Offers a unique, insightful journey through the many and varied interpretations of Paul’s life and work over 2,000 years – from the Gnostic controversy, to Luther and the Reformation, to contemporary debates over religion and scienceExplains Paul’s pivotal role within Christian history, and how his missionary journeys, canonized epistles and theological insights were cornerstones of the early Church and central to the formation of Christian doctrineArgues that each new interpretation of Paul is the result of a fresh set of cultural, social and ideological circumstances – and so questions whether it is ever possible to discover the real Paul Paul......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction: Meeting Paul Again for the First Time......Page 13 1 What Do We Know About “Paul,” and How Do We Know It?......Page 25 Who Is “Paul”?......Page 26 Sifting the Data: Five Starting Assumptions......Page 32 More Problems: The Question of Canon......Page 56 Sorting through the Data: The Range of Scholarly Views......Page 59 (Finally) A Brief Tour of Paul’s Letters......Page 65 The Acts of the Apostles......Page 80 Hebrews......Page 84 2 Paul in the Ante-Nicene Church......Page 86 What is “Ante-Nicene” Christianity?......Page 87 Some Ancient “Heretics”: Marcion and the Gnostics......Page 89 Marcion’s Paul......Page 91 Marcion’s Bible......Page 93 Lessons from Marcion......Page 95 Paul Outside the New Testament......Page 96 Pseudepigraphy: A Closer Look......Page 100 The Developing “Science” of Biblical Interpretation......Page 103 Western and Eastern Christianity......Page 110 Canon Closure......Page 112 Augustine of Hippo......Page 114 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite......Page 130 4 The Medieval Paul(s)......Page 137 Paul and the Bible in the Middle Ages......Page 138 Diversity of Thought in the Middle Ages......Page 139 Paul as the Scholar......Page 141 Paul and Medieval Cosmology and Anthropology......Page 143 Paul and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation......Page 144 Social and Civil Order......Page 148 Paul and Medieval Anti-Judaism......Page 152 Paul the Ascetic and Mystic......Page 154 Luther’s Challenge......Page 160 Sola Scriptura......Page 162 The Science of Biblical Interpretation......Page 166 Luther’s Reading of Paul’s View of the Jews......Page 169 The Rise of European Colonization......Page 177 The Rise of Christian Missions......Page 179 Debating Biblical Historicity......Page 182 The Letter to Philemon and Debates over Slavery......Page 186 7 Paul in the Twentieth Century......Page 195 Late Modernism and Postmodernism......Page 196 Early Twentieth-Century Biblical Scholarship......Page 198 Counter-responses......Page 200 Debates over the Bible and the Rise of Anti-Semitism......Page 202 Redeeming Paul: Paul in the Later Twentieth Century......Page 206 Paul and Subjectivity......Page 207 The “New Perspective” on Paul (Paul and Judaism)......Page 211 Paul and Gender......Page 213 Paul and Sexual Preference......Page 216 Paul and Politics and Ethnicity......Page 219 The Historicity of the Pauline Writings and Acts (again)......Page 220 Paul and the Fragmentation of the Twentieth Century......Page 222 Paul and Postmodernity......Page 223 (Auto)biography and Paul......Page 226 Where Is Paul?......Page 228 Questing......Page 229 The Ethics of Historical Reconstructions......Page 231 Comparing the Historical Data for Paul and for Jesus......Page 235 Implications: The Language of Paul......Page 239 Further Reading......Page 242 Index of New Testament Citations......Page 254 Index of Subjects and Proper Names......Page 258