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  • From: "Elli Elliott" <elli AT kci.net>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Teaching Paul Contextually
  • Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 23:16:00 -0600


Replying to Brian Tucker's request for ideas for teaching Paul's letters in
context:

I had a good time this summer with a class at Iliff School of Theology
entitled "Reading the New Testament in Communities of Struggle." We took
time to get some grasp of the Roman Imperial context, the patronage system,
and the Greco-Roman slave/family system -- and compare aspects of the
ancient world to students' experiences and analysis of present social
structures (similarities and differences). By "getting the picture" this
way, by the end of the course, the students were seeing most of the New
Testament and the early Christian movement differently. It was amazing.
One of the assignments for the last day was to make a list of New Testament
texts that they would read differently now that they know more about the
Greco-Roman social context. They all came with a starting list of examples
that ended -- "and most of the rest of the New Testament."

The bibliography on social context is extensive. I developed a course
packet of articles mostly from classics scholars on the patronage system,
family systems, slavery, etc. and used a couple of textbooks. I assume if
you're asking the question you're already familiar with this material. (The
students recommended for another time that I assign an overview book,
particularly Carolyn Osiek and David L. Balch, <Families in the New
Testament World>.)

The students were most excited by the collection of articles edited by
Richard Horsley, <Paul and Empire>. Those articles will include some
thought-provoking analysis of particular texts for you.

While it's not Paul himself, in the class we had a fascinating discussion of
the household codes in Ephesians (3:14-21; 5:21-6:9) and how they both
reinforce the traditional Greco-Roman family system and challenge
traditional assumptions. Without understanding that the context is a very
different family system, the household codes are hard to understand at all
(and are frequently misapplied).

Even a statement like "Jesus is Lord" is a starting point for understanding
a different context. What does "Lord/kurios" mean then vv. present-day
assumptions?

In 100-level undergraduate courses I've taught, I used to go through 1st
Thessalonians as one side of a correspondence and get them to "think
contextually" to fill in the other side (using a method adapted from
teaching English as a Second Language with one side of a phone
conversation). That can help them get the idea of HOW to think about the
context and listen for cues to the context. It also reinforces the basic
premise that Paul wrote letters to real people in real places with real
issues on their minds, not theological treatises to be included in
"scripture." Students with very little church background always had a much
easier time with this exercise, so it might be hard for seminarians!

I hope you'll have some good discussions, too.

Elli Elliott
(The Rev. Dr. Susan M. Elliott)

Pastor, Zion United Church of Christ, Sterling, Colorado
and Immanuel Congregational United Church of Christ, Brush, Colorado
PhD, New Testament & Early Christianity, Loyola University Chicago

Church e-mail: ZionImmanuelUCC AT hotmail.com
Personal e-mail: elli AT kci.net






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