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

• Year: 2010
• Leaves: 264
• Edition: 1
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

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

✦ Table of Contents

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