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Subject: Corpus-Paul

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  • From: "Given, Mark Douglas" <mdg421f AT smsu.edu>
  • To: "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [Corpus-Paul] (no subject)
  • Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 10:52:55 -0500

Ryan,

Let me say, first, that I really resonate with Mark's comments. While I
cannot ignore remarks in Rom 14-15 that sound as if the position of the
weak is, well, the weaker position, that is hardly the point of the
passage.

Looking at Rom 14-15 rhetorically, which I'm prone to do, regardless of
what Paul's true intentions were in speaking this way, I find it
difficult not to hear his advice as filled with a spirit of tolerance
towards believers who differed from himself, a tolerance he wants to
persuade "strong" believers in Rome to practice. It is very hard to
tell whether this represents a new stage in Paul's wrestling with such
issues or if he thought he was setting some people straight on what he
really thought. I basically accept the reliability of the account in
Acts 21 that portrays Paul's bad reputation with regard to the issue of
Jewish customs, and there are a few scattered verses in Romans that show
that Paul is concerned about gossip some of the Roman believers may have
heard. His willingness to participate in a Temple ritual in response to
his bad reputation testifies to the same spirit of tolerance expressed
in Rom 14-15. I tend to think Paul had reached a stage in his life
where he wanted actively to counter his growing reputation as an enemy
of Judaism (see also Rom 11), and certainly to counter that reputation
among his Christ-believing zealously law-observant Jewish brothers and
sisters in Jerusalem.

To put is a little humorously, and please no one take offense, one
possibility is that Paul might have once had Lutheran impulses, but he
was working hard to get over them. (-;

I think I've mentioned this before on this list, but I'm fascinated by a
passage in a letter that Augustine wrote to Jerome arguing that Jews in
their day should not be required to cease following the Law when
becoming Christians. Augustine, for all his faults in interpreting
Paul, was immersed in Pauline thought and is often true to its spirit.
I wonder if we're hearing the spirit of Rom 14-15 coming through in his
position on this, a position which I take to be astonishingly tolerant
coming from a Church Father. (Jerome would have none of it!)

Mark

Mark D. Given
Associate Professor
Department of Religious Studies
Southwest Missouri State University
901 S. National Ave.
Springfield, MO 65804
-----Original Message-----
From: corpus-paul-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:corpus-paul-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Mark D.
Nanos
Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 9:14 AM
To: Corpus Paul
Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] (no subject)

Ryan,
There are many reasons not to interpret Paul's language in the way that
you
propose to consider, but that is not the first question that arises for
me.
Since you have Reasoner at hand, and thus can survey the many solutions
on
offer, including my own, I turn to the issue that arises for me when I
read
your post. I intend not to offend, but to challenge you to think about
what
it is you wish to accomplish when you approach a text I suppose that you
believe to be sacred, because of the sacredness of human life.

My first question to you is: Why would you want to promote that
hypothesis
for a reading of this material? It makes central the denigration of the
motives and actions of others who choose to express their faith in a way
different than the reader who proposes the reading you suggest to
propose,
denying to them the claim to act nobly in faith, while reserving only
for
that reader such nobility. Is it necessary to suppose that such
demeaning of
the faith convictions of the "other" in Paul's voice? Why not just do it
in
one's own voice, if that is what one believes?

Alternatively, Why not make an effort to find ways to interpret Paul's
voice
consistent with his stated belief that the Christ-believer ought to love
the
neighbor as oneself (which is consistent with "Paul's gospel of faith";
no?), in this case, giving the benefit of the doubt to the acceptance of
the
nobility of the faith of the (Jewish) other in their choices of eating
and
drinking unto the Lord. Is that not what the point of Paul's instruction
is
anyway in this passage? Is that not a challenge worth the effort when
trying
to interpret this or any of Paul's texts?

Regards,
Mark
--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
Rockhurst University
Co-Moderator
http://home.comcast.net/~nanosmd/






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