Paul, Founder of Churches
A Study in Light of the Evidence for the Role of Founder-Figures in the Hellenistic-Roman Period
by James C. Hanges
The apostle Paul’s understanding of his role and responsibilities in transferring the cult of Jesus Christ to new lands to found new groups devoted to this immigrant son of God is not unique. His modus operandi cannot be adequately explained in terms of Jewish precedents. Rather, Paul’s pattern is a creative appropriation of the enduring Greek model of the founder, the key figure in Greek imaginings of the formation of social space, whether colony or cult. Cult foundation inscriptions as well as literary descriptions show that such foundations were laid according to persistent elements of a pattern originating in Greek foundation narratives focused on the oracular selection of the founder-figure and his obedience to a divine impetus for cult innovation. With the help of modern culture studies, especially postcolonial critique, Paul’s letters show that he not only appropriated this traditional Greek model and applied it to the foundation of his churches, but creatively adapted it for purposes of group self-definition and his own sensibilities. While Paul uses few technical foundation terms, his reliance on divine visionary endorsement of his transfer of the Christ cult to new places, the way the apostle exercises authority over the communities he has founded, his attempt to integrate his Greek communities into the sacred history of Israel, and the strategies used against him by his opponents reveal his use of the Greek foundational model. Paul shares the discourse and action of contemporary cult founders who, like him, were obeying their deity’s call for transferal to a new location.
- By (author) James C Hanges
Other Titles in this Series
Reading the First Century
On Reading Josephus and Studying Jewish History of the First Century
Volume 300
Divine Kingdom and Kingdoms of Men / Gottesreich und Reiche der Menschen
Studies on the Theology of the Septuagint Volume II / Studien zur Theologie der Septuaginta Band II
Volume 432
Leiblich vermitteltes Leben
Vorstellungen vom Uberwinden des Todes und vom Auferstehen im fruhen Christentum
Volume 501
Der Ratschluss Gottes
Erzählanalytische Untersuchungen zu einem theologischen Zentralmotiv des lukanischen Doppelwerks
Volume 527
Pseudepigraphie und Verfasserfiktion in frühchristlichen Briefen
Pseudepigraphy and Author Fiction in Early Christian Letters
Ethische Normen des frühen Christentums
Gut - Leben - Leib - Tugend. Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics. Band IV
Volume 313
The Eucharist – Its Origins and Contexts
Sacred Meal, Communal Meal, Table Fellowship in Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity. Volume I-III
Volume 376
Der eine Gott, der durch alle ist
Epheser 4,6 im Kontext antiker Diskurse uber Gott und die Welt
Volume 445
Paulus im Kontext des Diasporajudentums
Judenchristliche Lebensweise nach den paulinischen Briefen und die Debatten um 'Paul within Judaism'
Volume 511
Die Septuaginta – Entstehung, Sprache, Geschichte
3. Internationale Fachtagung veranstaltet von Septuaginta Deutsch (LXX.D), Wuppertal 22.-25. Juli 2010
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Volume 6
Nurturing the Elite
Representations of Drinking, Eating, and Religious Vessels in Palmyrene Funerary Iconography
Volume 13
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
After Life in Roman Paganism. L’Égypte des astrologues. Les Mages hellénisés
Introductions historiographiques
Volume 7
Katechetischer Text, oder Unterricht vom christlichen Lehrbegrif für Unstudirte
2 Auflagen: 1765–1772. Bibliothek der Neologie. Kritische Ausgabe in zehn Bänden. Band X
Misericorde et soin des blessures en pastorale au Congo-Brazzaville
Essai dune theologie du Ko-Ngo et de lanastomose
