Paul and Feminism

Paul and feminism are an uneasy pair, but feminist interpretation has played a pioneering role in demonstrating the social location and cultural embeddedness of Paul and the Pauline literature. Feminist interpretations of Pauline texts can broadly be categorized as ‘thematic’ or ‘structural’. Thematic interpretations focus specifically on women’s issues and intend to uncover women’s hidden voices and unveil arguments and strategies by which women are kept silent, rendered invisible, or marginalized by dominating hierarchical power structures. In addition, Paul’s social location as a member of a marginalized people, the Jews, is here considered important in assessing the significance of his theologizing in light of feminist issues. Structural approaches investigate the rhetorical drive, the power dynamics, the terminology and metaphors in Pauline argumentation. The divergent images of Paul emerging from such diverse feminist approaches indicate that no one ‘true’ Pauline voice concerning the role of women or way of doing theology can be found, but a plurality of feminist interpretations has emerged.

Pachomius Outside the Shadow of the Vita Antonii

The earliest prologue to the Life of Pachomius constructs the apostle Paul as an exemplary father and argues that Pachomius conforms to such a Pauline model. Prologues composed later make no such comparison but cite Antony as the model ascetic before turning to the narration of Pachomius’s life. This paper follows the Pauline thread of the earliest prologue by examining the use of the figure Paul and Pauline literature in the surviving Vitae. I argue that certain narratives cast Pachomius’s legacy after a Pauline prototype. Paul’s ascent to paradise in 2 Corinthians 12 and Paul’s survey of torments in the Apocalypse of Paul are rewritten in some of the Coptic and Arabic Vitae as episodes in Pachomius’s life. This use of Paul as a prototype for ascetic hagiography creates a vision of ascetic holiness incompatible with that constructed in the Life of Antony. Other narratives in the Pachomian Vitae, however, construct Pachomius after an Antonian prototype and reflect ascetic ideals promoted in the Life of Antony. The paper closes with reflections on possible historical circumstances for the shift from a Pauline model of asceticism to an Antonian one in the composition of Pachomian Vitae.

Bakhtinian Carnivalesque and Paul’s Foolish and Scandalous Gospel

In this article I read the Pauline gospel through the heuristic prism of Bakhtinian carnivalesque. Such a reading is legitimated by Paul’s acknowledgement that his gospel was a scandal to the Jews and a foolishness to the Greeks (1 Cor. 1.23). As a literary trope carnivalesque can be summarized according to the following points: (1) it entails an unhindered interaction between all people; (2) in it otherwise impermissible behaviour is accepted; (3) it is set towards a uniting of opposites; (4) it explores the sacrilegious; and (5) it constitutes a redefinition of the physical and the bodily. In my argument I show that these aspects are all present in the Pauline literature in various ways. Properly defined, Paul’s gospel is carnivalesque. Altogether, my reading serves as a reminder of some of the subversive aspects of his theological narrative. This further allows me to describe parts of his non-representative and apophatic anthropology.

Missing ‘Particles’ in Disputed Pauline Letters? A Question of Method

New Testament scholars continue to debate the number of missing ‘particles’ in disputed Pauline letters in order to advocate or challenge their pseudonymity. Surprisingly, however, participants in the debate do not usually define particles nor do they explain how they count missing types. Addressing these methodological issues, the present study suggests using the broader category of ‘indeclinables’ instead of particles, and to count missing types by either comparing the data for a particular letter (or group of letters) against another letter (or group of letters) or in light of the entire Pauline letter corpus. Since the overall result proves to be different for both approaches, it appears that the question regarding the number of missing indeclinables in (pseudo-)Pauline literature is essentially one of method.

Paul and Politics

‘Paul and Politics’ is a highly contested site of examination in contemporary Pauline Studies. Debates about whether, how, and to what ends Pauline literature can be read politically reach back to the beginnings of historical-critical engagement with New Testament texts in Germany, and have gained traction in the last several decades, particularly, in the United States at least, in the aftermath of the political and military engagements of the past decade and more. This essay maps several broad perspectives and approaches that New Testament scholars adopt in deliberating ‘Paul and Politics’, highlighting methodological questions and trends in the field, as well as some of the main points of contention.