Corpus-Paul

[Jack Kilmon <jkilmon AT historian.net>]

Patrick Nugent wrote:

> 
> I have  been following this discussion keenly and it has proved
> fascinating.  I think Moon-Ryul Jung is certainly right here, but it seems
> to me that a more pointed and interesting question is whether, when Paul
> criticised "Judaism and the Law" he did so believing himself to be an
> outsider or an insider.  A reformist or radical inside critique carries
> different connotations and cultural weight than does an outsider's
> criticism.  So do we read Paul as a radical, or as an apostate?

There is much about Paul that does not make sense...but we must
not forget his origins.  He is a diaspora Jew raised in Tarshish
which was a significant gentile city and an important center of
pagan influence for the entire Mediterranean.  It was the "Vatican"
of Mithraism.  Paul was a Roman citizen which convincingly
suggests his family had close ties with the gentiles.  Paul,
or a Pauline redactor (another issue) uses strong language
about being a Hebrew of Hebrews, Pharisee, Hillelic student,
etc but everything Paul does and says is in direct contradiction
to a torah-based, rabbinic education in Jerusalem at the "foot
of Gamaliel."

For many years, I didn't even like Paul, preferring to see him
variously as a liar, opportunist, braggadocio, fanatic, etc.
Gradually, he kind of grew on me and I now prefer to see him
as an enigma.

Jack
-- 
______________________________________________

taybutheh d'maran yeshua masheecha am kulkon

Jack Kilmon
jkilmon AT historian.net

http://www.historian.net