Paul’s relationship to Christianity—as a Pharisaic Jew whose moment of revelation on the road to Damascus has made him the most famous early Christian—is still a topic of great interest to scholars of early Christianity and Judaism. This collection of essays from world-renowned scholars examines how Christians of the first two centuries perceived Paul’s Jewishness, and how they seized upon Paul’s views on Judaism in order to advance their own claims about Christianity.
The contributors offer a comprehensive examination of various early Christian views on Paul, in texts contained both in and outside of the New Testament, demonstrating how the reception of Paul’s thought affected the formation of Judaism and Christianity into separate entities. Divided into five sections, the arguments focus upon Paul’s reception in Ephesians, the other Deutero-Pauline Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, Marcion of Synope and the reaction of Paul’s opponents. Featuring essays from scholars including Judith Lieu, James H. Charlesworth and Harry O. Meier, this volume forms a perfect resource for scholars to reassess Paul’s Jewishness and relationship with Judaism.
Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors
1. Introduction - Isaac W. Oliver, Bradley University, USA and Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan, USA
Part I: The Reception of Paul the Second Temple Jew in Ephesians
2. The Construction of Gentiles in the Letter to the Ephesians- Matthew Thiessen, McMaster University, Canada
3. “You Who Once Were far off Have Been Brought near.” The Ethne-in-Christ according to Ephesians - William S. Campbell, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, UK
4. Ephesians in the Jewish Political Debate of the First Century: Rethinking Paul's Approach in Facing New Challenges - Eric Noffke, Waldesian School of Theology, Italy
Part II: The Reception of Paul the Second Temple Jew: The Other Deutero-Pauline Epistles
5. Colossians’ Grounding Traditionalization of Paul - Anders Klostergaard Petersen, Aarhus University, Denmark
6. The Shadow and the Substance: Early Reception of Paul the Jew in the Letter to the Colossians - James Waddell, Ecumenical Theological Seminary, USA
7. Master Nations: Pauline Trajectories according to 1 Timothy - Kathy Ehrensperger, Abraham Geiger College, University of Potsdam, Germany
Part III: The Rejection of Reception of Paul? Searching for Paul's Opponents
8. Jew Against Jew: The Reception of Paul in Matthew's Christian Jewish Community - David C. Sim, Australian Catholic University, Australia
9. Paul among His Enemies? Exploring Potential Theological Traits in the Pseudo-Clementines - Giovanni B. Bazzana, Harvard University, USA
10. John of Patmos and the Apostle Paul: Antimony or Affinity? - Joel Willits, North Park University, USA
Part IV: The Reception of Paul the Second Temple Jew in the Acts of the Apostles
11. Why Should Experts Ignore Acts in Pauline Research? - James H. Charlesworth, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA
12. Jewish Sensibilities and the Search for the Jewish Paul—The Lukan Paul Viewed through Josephan Judaism: Interplay with Apion 2:190–219 - George Carras, Washington and Lee University, USA
13. The Calling of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles - Isaac W. Oliver, Bradley University, USA
14. Luke's Portrait of Paul in Acts 21:17-26 - David Rudolph, The King's University, USA
Part V: Marcion and the Reception of Paul the Second Temple Jew
15. Marcion, Paul and the Jews - Judith Lieu, University of Cambridge, UK
16. Paul's Problematic Relation to Judaism in the Seneca-Paul Original Correspondence (2nd Century CE?) - Ilaria L.E. Ramelli, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, USA
17. Reading James, Re-reading Paul - David Nienhuis, Seattle Pacific University, USA
18. Gentile Judaizing in the Dialogue with Trypho: A Test Case for Justin's Reception of Paul - Benjamin White, Clemson University, USA
Part VI: Searching for other Receptions of Paul the Second Temple Jew
19. “As If by Paul”? Some Remarks on the Textual Strategy of Anonymity in Hebrews - Gabriella Gelardini, University of Basel, Switzerland
20. The Scripturalization of Letters from “Our Beloved Brother” Paul in 2 Peter - David Downs, Fuller Theological Seminary, USA
21. Paul, the Greek Old Testament, and the Promotion of the Flavian Order in 1 Clement - Harry O. Maier, Vancouver School of Theology, Canada
Index of Authors
Index of Texts
About the Author :
Isaac W. Oliver is Assistant Professor in Religious Studies at Bradley University, USA.
Gabriele Boccaccini is Professor in Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins at the University of Michigan, USA.
Review :
This volume combines a wealth of knowledge from leading scholars from across the globe who represent a vast array of perspectives on the apostle Paul. [It] demonstrates that rereadings of Paul offer new avenues for exploring his reception. These essays show that there is much to gain by searching for Paul the Second Temple Jew’s reception in the ancient world and that much more searching remains to be done.
