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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Musings on Pauline studies in general...
  • Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 05:30:06 -0700 (PDT)


Steve wrote:

>It would be interesting to draw up a
>taxonomy of "Paul's" under discussion in
>modern research. There is the Anti-Semitic
>Paul, the revolutionary Paul, the
>conservative Paul, the liberal Paul, the
>feminist Paul, the patriarchal Paul...

Don't forget the most influential one of all: the
Lutheran Paul.

These are good musings, Steve. In some ways the quest
for Paul mirrors that of the historical Jesus. But the
starting point for Paul, as you note, tends to be
either the greatest hero after Jesus or the worst
villain of early Christianity. Jesus, by contrast,
almost invariably comes off positively. It's rather
quaint to make a Schweitzer-like observation -- that
people look at these figures in order to see either
themselves (Jesus, Paul) or the very antithesis of
themselves (Paul) -- but that lesson apparently needs
to be learned over and over again. The only way to
really appreciate these guys is to "breathe freely in
their world" (Schweitzer, criticizing Renan), and
become at home with these alien eschatologists out of
an even more alien honor-shame culture. It's only
then, paradoxically, that we can we grasp any
authentic relevance they may have for us today.

I find Paul likeable as an historical figure, because
he's so great and flawed at the same time. He was an
aggressive homophobe in a world that was considerably
more tolerant of homosexuality than many places in
today's West; but his views on women and slaves were
more ambivalent, in many cases even positive. He had
his good and bad sides like anyone. He often agonized
as a theologian, trying to hold together traditionally
Jewish and new ("Christian") theological convictions
-- as in accounting for the law's purpose in salvation
history (Gal 3:19-24/Rom 11:32; Rom 7:7-25), or
Israel's purpose in the same (Rom 9-11); I don't know
that anyone else could have said or done better. When
under adversarial pressure, he was at home with nasty
and vilifying rhetoric, just like Jesus or any other
controversial figure who needed to be taken seriously
in the honor-shame milieu. Paul is that fascinating
stranger on a distant shore, who, like the one he
worshipped, knew that time on earth was limited and
that God would soon make things right once and for
all. There is much we can take from him; there is much
we can (and should) leave behind. What more can we
ask, or expect, of any historical figure?

Loren Rosson III
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com


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