I finished reading this fascinating book called The First Paul. The book paints a clear picture of St. Paul-his life and teachings. But there are also a couple of positions the authors hold that need to be explored further in a third part-that is the belief that Paul taught a Distributive Justification and a Radical Equality to reconcile this world to God. I agree with much of what they write but there is some areas that may lead one towards a Liberation Theology. More on that in part 3.
But overall the book opens a window into Paul's radical life and vision to which I agree with. The book tracks the 13 letters attributed to Paul and chronicles how Paul-the radical-morphs into 3 different voices. (See Part 1): http://thepirateway-bob.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-paul-book-review_04.html.
The First Paul is the real deal. His teaching comes from the authority of a risen Christ and a radical Kingdom. This Kingdom comes into direct opposition to the Kingdom of the World-which in the time of Paul was represented by Imperial Rome. So it sets up a collision course of Two Kingdoms-Two Visions-Two Theologies-Two Destinations. With this entire backdrop, the authors state the problem:
"This is our first insight into how radical equality within Pauline Christian theology opposes and replaces the normal hierarchy within Roman imperial theology. And the tragedy is that the Paul of the post Pauline tradition is not only de-radicalized; he is Romanized."
Simply stated Paul (or others writing in Paul's name) softens his radical views on the issues of equality and conforms more to the views of Rome.
To find an answer to this dilemma, the authors start with an important aspect of biblical study-Historical Context.
I don't mean to jump hermeneutical on you, but a pretty good study habit is to peer into the cultural surroundings of a biblical text. The first thing to note is, Paul's letters were not intended for us to read. They were written to a particular person or group. Secondly the recipients of the letter had a pretty good handle on what was written . Finally Paul wrote his 7 genuine letters (see part 1) from around 50 AD to 67 AD.
Scholars place Paul's' death around 67 AD. The book points out that Paul and Peter and thousands of other believers were tortured and executed during the Great Persecution of Christians at the hands of Nero in the year 67 AD.
A day-in the life-of Paul could be viewed through 3 concentric circles (think of drawing a small circle-then draw a larger circle around that one and one more larger circle around both of them) The smallest circle is the people Paul wrote to-like the church at Rome or an individual like Philemon. The next circle is the religious times in which he lived-this was during the early Jesus Movement within Judaism and Judaism is within the largest circle-the Roman Empire. It would look like this:
Philemon>Early Jesus Movement>Judaism>Imperial Rome.
Claudius and Nero were the Roman Emperor's who ruled during this time. Rome was The Known World-there was no competitor on earth but there was a kingdom of much more power and authority-the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was ushered in by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the kingdom that radicalized Paul. Imperial Rome represented the Kingdom of the World and was espoused by Caesar-two violently opposing visions.
Here is a theological note: The kingdom of God is here among us through the death and resurrection of Jesus and it is yet to come. This is the filter by which Paul lived and saw life-the term he uses often of this kingdom life is: "In Christ." Paul's' vision of this kingdom life was-and is-the antithesis of the Kingdom of the World that was enforced by Imperial Rome.
Claudius was the emperor while Paul began writing the genuine letters and Christians enjoyed a mutual peace with Rome. But when Nero came along he began persecuting Christians. It is at this point we see the first stages of Paul becoming softer on the radical vision of equality and more in line with Rome's hierarchical norms.
This de-radicalization was happening because the young church wanted to remain viable and not come into disfavor with Rome. The authors provide a contemporary example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer-when he told relatives in Nazi Germany that saluting the Fuhrer was a small sacrifice for the larger battle against the evil of Nazism.
The book goes on to define Paul's language of the Kingdom of God as expressed in many of his famous phrases like:"In Christ" and "Jesus is Lord"-among others which I will discuss in the next post. I will also speak to the controversial issues in the book.
Addendum: To clarify this sentence from the blog: "It is at this point we see the first stages of Paul becoming softer on the radical vision of equality and more in line with Rome's hierarchical norms."
ReplyDeleteThe letters written at this point were not the genuine letters that we know Paul wrote for sure and the authors say most likely these letters were written in Paul's name after his death.