Corpus-Paul

["Neil Elliott" <elliott AT igc.org>]

A few RECENT works I've found stimulating:

Justin Meggitt, PAUL, POVERTY, AND SURVIVAL (1998)
   Argues against "new consensus" that Paul and his churches
   were "middle-class"; rather (like on M.'s estimate 99%
   of the urban population throughout empire) they lived
   just at subsistence level, therefore had to rely on
   "Christian mutualism" as a "survival strategy."  The
   early chaps. on poverty and social structure are worth
   the price of admission.  (Amazon.com reviewers have given
   it a five-star rating.)

F. Gerald Downing, THE CYNICS, PAUL, AND THE PAULINE CHURCHES
(1998)
   Argues (as sequel to CYNICS AND CHRISTIAN ORIGINS I)
   that Paul's self-presentation would readily have been
   understood by Roman audiences as cynic-like, and that
   Paul cannot have missed that fact.  Also argues that
   between "early" (Gal., Thess., Cor.) and "late" (Php.,
   Rom.) letters Paul changed from a more "radical,"
   Cynic-like social posture to a more subdued, conserva-
   tive, Stoic-like one.  Lots of good footnotes!

Winsome Munro, JESUS, BORN OF A SLAVE (1997?)
   This work, published just after Prof. Munro's death,
   builds an intriguing case that Jesus (and his family)
   came from the slave class and were themselves slaves
   in Roman Galilee.  There is much useful material in
   discussion and footnotes.  There is ALSO a good deal
   of begging-the-question, circular reasoning, and
   arguments from silence--i.e. "since Jesus' slave status
   would have been embarrassing and since the NT sources
   are likely to suppress embarrassing information, the
   lack of more explicit evidence 'proves' that Jesus was
   a slave" (my paraphrase).

   Despite these flaws Munro makes an intriguing argument
   that Phil. 2 does NOT use "form of a slave" metaphorically,
   or in some "theological" sense ("slave to sin," e.g., as
   for DUNN in THEOLOGY).  She argues Paul actually knew
   that Jesus came from the slave class; the consequences
   for her reading of Gal., especially Gal. 3:28, are dramatic.
   At least her argument prompts a re-assessment of the sense
   in which Paul describes Jesus as dying a slave's death.

Discussions, anyone?

Neil Elliott