About the Book
The T&T Clark Handbook to the Historical Paul gathers leading voices on various aspects of Paul’s biography into a thorough reconsideration of him as a historical figure. The contributors show how recent trends in Pauline scholarship have invited new questions about a variety of topics, including his social location, his mode of subsistence, his cultural formation, his place within Judaism, his religious experience and practice, and his affinities with other religious actors of the Roman world. Through careful attention to biographical detail, social context, and historical method, it seeks to describe him as a contextually plausible social actor.
The volume is structured in three parts. Part One introduces sources, methods, and historiographical approaches, surveying the foundational texts for Paul and the early Pauline tradition. Part Two examines key biographical questions pertaining to Paul’s bodily comportment, the material aspects of his career, and his religious activities. Part Three reconstructs the biographical portraits of Paul that emerge from the letters associated with him, presenting a series of “micro-biographies” pieced together by leading Pauline scholars.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1. Introduction – Ryan S. Schellenberg, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, USA and Heidi Wendt, McGill University, Canada
Part 1: Sources and Methodology
2. The Corpus Paulinum – Leif E. Vaage, Emmanuel College/University of Toronto, Canada
3. Acts – Christopher Mount, DePaul University, USA
4. The Pauline Tradition – Benjamin L. White, Clemson University, USA
5. The Manuscript Tradition – Brent Nongbri, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society, Norway
6. Person, Character, Self – Eve-Marie Becker, University of Münster, Germany
Part 2: Biographical Problems
7. Travel and Homelessness – Timothy Luckritz Marquis, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA
8. Manual Labor and Sustenance – Thomas R. Blanton IV, University of Erfurt, Germany
9. Beatings and Imprisonments – Ryan S. Schellenberg, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, USA
10. Appearance and Health – Louise J. Lawrence, University of Exeter, UK
11. Singleness and Celibacy – Calvin J. Roetzel, University of Minnesota, USA
12. Ioudaios, Pharisee, Zealot – Matthew V. Novenson, University of Edinburgh, UK
13. Literacy and Education – Paul Robertson, University of New Hampshire, USA
14. Mythmaking and Exegesis – Heidi Wendt, McGill University, Canada
15. Divination and Miracles – Jennifer Eyl, Tufts University, USA
16. Religious Experience – Colleen Shantz, St. Michael’s College University of Toronto, Canada
17. Death – David L. Eastman, University of Regensburg, Germany/McCallie School, USA
18. Chronology – Douglas A. Campbell, Duke University, USA
Part 3: Epistolary Micro-Biographies
19. Romans – Kathy Ehrensperger, University of Potsdam, Germany
20. The Corinthian Correspondence – Paul B. Duff, George Washington University, USA
21. Galatians – Mark D. Nanos, Lund University, Sweden and Heidi Wendt, McGill University, Canada
22. Philippians and Philemon – Angela Standhartinger, University of Marburg, Germany
23. The Thessalonian Correspondence – Richard S. Ascough, Queen's University Kingston, Canada
24. Ephesians and Colossians – Margaret Y. MacDonald, Saint Mary’s University, Canada
25. The Pastoral Epistles – Simon Butticaz, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
General Bibliography
Indexes
About the Author :
Ryan S. Schellenberg is Associate Professor of New Testament at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, USA.
Heidi Wendt is Associate Professor of Religions of the Greco-Roman World at McGill University, Canada.
Review :
[This] handbook serves as a valuable and welcome partner for contemporary engagement with historical Paul studies.
This splendid creation of Heidi Wendt and Ryan Schellenberg should place the study of the historical Paul on a new and more secure footing. Its authors represent varied approaches and perspectives while addressing the key historiographical issues with critical acumen and the use of the most up-to-date developments.
Recent developments in appreciation both of the need to earth Paul as a first-century person, rather than as a disembodied writer, and of the possibilities and complexities of doing so, drive this comprehensive volume. It draws together many of the world’s leading experts in this field to offer an extensive set of studies presented in a way that will make this a fundamental resource in the field for years to come.
Conceptually innovative, boldly multi-vocal, superbly curated— this Handbook to the Historical Paul offers to the reader an abundance of cutting-edge scholarship. Schellenberg, Wendt, and their authors have taken the lead in shaping the current quest for the historical Paul. This Handbook will prove an indispensable resource for future work.
The collection is timely, critically valuable and exciting to read.
