Paul’s Triumph

Reassessing 2 Corinthians 2:14 in Its Literary and Historical Context

By (author) C. Heilig

Book cover: Paul’s Triumph

Extent: 354 pages

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Subjects: Biblical Studies

Series: Biblical Tools and Studies

Series volume number: 27

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(January 2017)

ISBN: 9789042933927

Price: $108.00

In stock

Paul’s metaphorical language in Second Corinthians 2:14 has troubled exegetes for a long time. Does the verb ‘thriambeuein’ indicate that Paul imagines himself as being led to execution in the Roman triumphal procession? Or is, by contrast, the victory in view that the apostles receive themselves? Maybe the Roman ritual does not constitute the background of this metaphor at all? Clarity with regard to these questions is a pressing issue in Pauline studies, given the fact that this metaphor introduces a central passage in the Pauline corpus that is of crucial importance for reconstructing the apostle’s self-understanding. Heilig demonstrates that, if all the relevant data are taken into account, a coherent interpretation of Paul’s statement is possible indeed. Moreover, Heilig brings the resulting meaning of Paul’s statement into dialogue with the political discourse of the time, thus presenting a detailed argument for the complex critical interaction of Paul with the ideology of the Roman Empire.

  • By (author) C. Heilig

"Heilig's book is an important contribution to this scholarly discussion because of his careful emphasis on what we can know based upon the available evidence--primarily recognizing the difference between what is lexically possible in the verb thriambeuo as compared to what might be conceptually linked to the idea of the Roman triumph." --Benjamin Nickodemus, Concordia Journal Spring 2018