REL 321

Exordium

Welcome to the serious study of the Apostle Paul!

Reading: Taylor, 3-9; Elliott, "No Acolyte of Rome: A New Look at the Apostle Paul" (See Course Documents)

NB: Reading assignments are to be read by the time class meets on the day they are listed

Supplemental Reading (NB: Supplemental readings are not required.): Meeks, The Writings of St. Paul; Peter and Paul and the Christian Revolution;

Preparation for Interpreting Paul

Reading: Taylor, 11-19

Supplemental Reading: Historiography;

Reading: Taylor, 21-34

Supplemental Reading: Grant, "The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts"

Reading: Taylor, 35-50

Supplemental Reading:  Dr. Mark's Annotated Chronology of Paul (9 B.C.E–50 C.E.); Carter, "Paul and Empire," in Paul Unbound

Reading: Taylor, 64-81

Supplemental Reading: Cleanthes' "Hymn to Zeus"; The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

Reading: Taylor, 51-63, 81-89

Reading: Taylor, 91-102

Supplemental Reading:

The Nurturing of Assemblies

Reading: Taylor, 102-123

Supplemental Reading: The "Trees" in Silva Rhetoricae; Given, "Paul and Rhetoric: A Sophos in the Kingdom of God," 175–200, in Paul Unbound (Course Documents); Trobisch, "The Oldest Extant Editions of the Letters of Paul"; de Villiers, "Paul as a Letter Writer: A New Publication on Pauline Letters in Their Literary Setting"

Reading: Gorman, 14-33, 297-309

Supplemental Reading: Gorman, 181-89; Exegesis Resources

The Text and Translations

Reading: Gorman, 37-65

Assignment: Take a look at the Text Selection assignment below.  We'll discuss it in class in addition to today's reading assignment.

Supplemental Reading: Wallace, History of the English Bible; Wallace, Why So Many Versions?; Tom Wright on the NIV; Southern Baptist Resolutions Concerning the NIV

Reading: Acts 9:1–25 (cf. Gal 1:11–24; Phil 3:1–11); Dr. Mark's Annotated Chronology of Paul (9 B.C.E–50 C.E.); Mattison, "A Summary of the New Perspective on Paul"

Outline: The Church(es) Before Paul; Acts 9:3–8 and Parallels

Supplemental Reading: Byrne, et al., Re-Reading Paul: A fresh look at his attitude to Torah and to Judaism (also in Course Content); Introduction and Summary of the New Perspective; Jewish-Christian Relations; Acts 1:1 - 8:40 with HSB Intro and footnotes.; Grant, "The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts"; On the New Perspective; McRay, "Paul in Recent Research"; Segal, "Paul and the Modern Study of Conversion," in Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee, 20–30 (See Course Content); Segal, "Paul and Luke, " in Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee, 3-33 (See Course Content); Stendahl, "The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West"

Supplemental Resources: Martin Luther and Antisemitism;

Reading: Acts 9:32–14:28

Paper One: Text Selection

Outline: Preparing "The Way" for Paul

Supplemental Reading: Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments; Wengst, "When did Christianity Originate?"

Supplemental Reading: Gorman, 221-32

Reading: Acts 15:1-35; Gal 2:1-21

Supplemental Reading; Patton, "Was James Being Legalistic in Acts 15? or 'Can I Eat a Rare Steak?'"

Reading: Acts 15:36-17:34 (cf. Acts 17:22-31 with 1 Thess 2:1-2; 3:1; Rom 1:18-2:16); Given, "Not Either/Or but Both/And in Paul's Areopagus Speech," Biblical Interpretation 3,3 (1995)

Supplemental Reading: Given, Paul's True Rhetoric, 39-60; Given, "The Unknown Paul- Philosophers and Sophists in Acts 17"; Reis, "The Areopagus Speech as Echo Chamber: Mimesis and Intertextuality in Acts 17"

Reading: Acts 18:1-11; 1 Thessalonians (review Acts 17:1-9); Taylor, 127-41

Dr. Mark's Annotated Chronology of Paul (50–58 C.E.)

Supplemental Reading: Charles Wanamaker, “‘Like a Father Treats His Own Children': Paul and the Conversion/Resocialization of the Thessalonians.” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa , 92 (1995), 46-55. - See more at: http://www.religion.uct.ac.za/religion/staff/academicstaff/charleswanamaker#sthash.4hB3RRWf.dpuf

Reading: Acts 16:6; Galatians; Taylor, 153-55; 143-47

Supplemental Reading: Synoptic Parallel of Acts and Galatians Based on the North Galatian Hypothesis; Synoptic Parallel of Acts and Galatians Based on the South Galatian Hypothesis; Das, "Paul and the Law: Pressure Points in the Debate," in Paul Unbound; Sumney, "Paul and His Opponents: The Search," in Paul Unbound

Keener, "Jesus Followers in Step With the Spirit: A closer look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians."  Craig Keener's new Galatians commentary attempts to combine important insights from both "Old Perspective(s)" and "New Perspective(s)" on Paul's theology.  He talks about his work in this article.

Reading: Galatians; Taylor, 147-53, 155-59

Supplemental Reading; Cosgrove, "Paul and Ethnicity: A Selective History of Interpretation" (In Paul Unbound); East, "Enter Paul: On Paula Fredriksen’s 'Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle' and 'When Christians Were Jews'"

Reading: Gorman, 89-108

Supplemental Reading: 232-33

Reading: Gorman, 109-136

Assignment: Reflect on these questions about your chosen text: 1) What are the main points of each of the parts of the text, and how does the text/writer make these points? 2) What do the details mean in the big picture, and how does the big picture affect the meaning of the details?

Textbook Reading: Acts 18:12-19:41; 1 Cor 1-4; Taylor, 161-73

Paper Two: Exegesis 3rd and 4th Element (Survey and Contextual Analysis)

Supplemental Reading; Stichele, "Unveiling Paul: Gendering Ethos in 1 Cor 11:2-16" (read the "Ethos Argumentation" and "Character and Masculinity in Ancient Rhetoric" sections)

Reading: 1 Cor 5:1-11:1; Taylor, 173-78

Supplemental Reading: Dale B. Martin, review of Richard B. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics, Review of Biblical Literature [http://www.bookreviews.org] (1998); Spohn, "Is There Such a Thing as New Testament Ethics?"; 1 Corinthians 8-16 Lecture Outline; Given, "All things to all people all at once: Paul's ambiguous rhetorical strategy in 1 Cor 8:1 - 11:1"

Reading: 1 Cor 11:2-16:24; Taylor, 178-88

Supplemental Reading: Hart, "The Spiritual Was More Substantial Than the Material for the Ancients"; Penner and Stichele, "Unveiling Paul: Gendering Ethos in 1 Cor 11:2-16"

Reading: Acts 20:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1-6:13; Taylor, 189-212

Supplemental Reading: Given, "On His Majesty's Secret Service: The Undercover Ethos of Paul"; Long, Fredrick J. Ancient Rhetoric and Paul's Apology: The Compositional Unity of 2 Corinthians (reviewed by Silva)

Reading: 2 Cor 6:14-9:15; Taylor, 212-15

Supplemental Reading:  2 Cor 8-9; Friesen, "Paul and Economics: The Jerusalem Collection as an Alternative to Patronage," in Paul Unbound (Course Content); Abrahams, "A Plea for Purity: 2 Cor 6:14–7:1 as Integral to 2 Corinthians" (Course Content)

Reading: 2 Cor 10-13; Taylor, 215-21

Supplemental Reading: Gorman, 252-64 (The Long Sample Exegesis Paper); Sumney, "Who are those 'Servants of Satan'?"; Sumney, "Paul and His Opponents: The Search," in Paul Unbound

Reading: Acts 20:2; Rom 1:1-3:20; Taylor, 223-37

Supplemental Reading: Penna, Paul the Apostle (Reviewed by Given)

Supplemental Reading:  Dabourne, Purpose and Cause in Pauline Exegesis: Romans 1:16 - 4:25 and a New Approach to the Letters (Reviewed by Given); Zorn, "The Messianic Use of Habakkuk 2:4a in Romans" (Read up to "Habakkuk and Its Context"); Homosexuality and the Bible; Martin, "Heterosexism and the Interpretation of Romans 1:18-32."  Biblical Interpretation 3 (1995) 332-355 (Course Content)

Reading: Rom 3:21-5:21; Taylor, 238-41;

Supplemental Reading: Mattison, "The Meaning of the Law for Paul"; "Original Sin"; Hebrews 1:1-4; 8:1-10:39

Reading: Rom 6:1-8:39; Taylor, 241-44

Supplemental Reading: The Testament of Asher Concerning Two Faces of Vice and Virtue; Byrne, On ReReading Paul; Gager, "Paul's Contradictions – Can They Be Resolved?"; "Calvinism" (Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics); Harink, "Apocalypsis and Polis: Pauline Reflections on the Theological Politics of Yoder, Hauerwas, and Milbank"; Meyer, "The Worm at the Core of the Apple"; Tabor, The Jewish-Roman World of Jesus; Tabor, "The Message and Mission of Paul" (Read "The Message" which is part one of the article.  Stop where the "Apostolic Authority and Mission" section begins.)

Reading: Rom 9-11; Taylor, 244-46

Supplemental Reading: Cosgrove, "Paul and Ethnicity: A Selective History of Interpretation" (In Paul Unbound); Cosgrove, Elusive Israel: The Puzzle of Election in Romans (reviewed by Nanos); Given, "Restoring the Inheritance in Rom 11:1." Journal of Biblical Literature 118,1 (1999); Thomas, "The Return of the Jewish Church"; Mouw, The Chosen People Puzzle; Wagner, Heralds of the Good News: Isaiah and Paul in Concert in the Letter to the Romans (reviewed by Stanley); Young, Paul the Jewish Theologian (description and sample chapter)

The Mouw article is a very intriguing piece by an evangelical theologian who failed a class because of Rom 11.  Whether you agree with Mouw's own position or not, his article does a good job of illustrating the difficulties theologians face when trying to make sense of Paul—and the rest of the NT for that matter—on the subject of Jews and Judaism.

Reading: Gorman, 139-58

Reading: Philemon; Taylor, 277-88

Supplemental Reading: Chris Frilingos, "'For My Child, Onesimus': Paul and Domestic Power in Philemon." Journal of Biblical Literature . (See Course Content); Grimke, "Appeal to the Christian Women of the South"; Raphall, "The Bible View of Slavery"; Wallace, "Philemon: Introduction, Argument , Outline"; Wallace, "Some Initial Reflections on Slavery in the NT"

The nineteenth century Grimke and Raphall articles illustrate the amazingly diverse ways the Bible was interpreted on the subject of slavery.

The Mostly Pseudepigraphic Paul

Reading: 2 Thessalonians (including HSB Intro); Taylor, 289-91

Supplemental Reading: Given, "Review of Reicke, Re-examining Paul's Letters: The History of the Pauline Correspondence"; Frank W. Hughes, "Pseudonymity as Rhetoric: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Pauline Pseudepigrapha"

Reading: Colossians (including HSB Intro); Taylor, 292-95

Supplemental Reading: Epistle to the Laodiceans;

Reading: Ephesians (including HSB Intro)

Supplemental Reading:

Reading: Titus (including HSB Intro); 1 Timothy (including HSB Intro); Taylor, 295-99; Ignatius to the Magnesians 1-8 (Hoole translation);

Supplemental Reading: Ignatius; Pervo, "Romancing an Oft-Neglected Stone: The Pastoral Epistles and the Epistolary Novel"; Polycarp; Polycarp to the Philippians 1-6 (Lake translation); Krause, "Telling Women to Shut Up Is More Complicated That You Might Think," in Paul Unbound.

Reading: 2 Timothy (including HSB Intro); Other Excerpts TBA

Supplemental Reading: 

Reading: Taylor, 299-309

Supplemental Reading:  The Acts of Paul (Read Introduction and section II.); 3 Corinthians; The Prayer of the Apostle Paul; The Apocalypse of Paul; The Correspondence of Paul and Seneca

Exegesis Paper Due