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  • From: "David C. Hindley" <dhindley AT compuserve.com>
  • To: <danhynes AT africamail.com>
  • Cc: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: In search of wisdom
  • Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 14:22:38 -0400


Dan Hynes asked:

>>My name is Daniel Hynes. I am currently a junior in high school. I am on a
search to gain a better knowing of the bible and theology especially
regarding missions. If you can help me in any way to gain more understanding
it would be much appreciated.<<

Well, Dan, I think you just got a "baptism of fire" into the white-hot
furnace of Pauline critical studies. I hope you were wearing your
Sunday-best asbestos suit!

From your e-mail base address (africamail.com) and your interest in
missions, I am guessing that you are from an evangelical-missionary
background. This list is more interested in the nuts and bolts business of
criticism using a technique known as the "historical-critical" method, than
in the more-or-less faith confirming study of the epistles (along with Acts)
as a way to understand the significance of Paul's travels and activities in
relation to spreading the (his?) gospel. But that doesn't mean you can't
learn something here that will help you in your own search for meaning, etc.

Whatever you may expect to find, you will need to come up to speed with the
jargon and previous research since the 18th century. One of the best surveys
of the early critical years was written by Albert Schweitzer, himself a
missionary following the critical period of his career, called _Paul and His
Interpreters: A Critical History_ (English translation 1912, translated from
German, _Geshichte der paulinischen Forschung_, 1912). Unfortunately, I
believe it is out of print and may be hard to find even used, but some
libraries have copies. Schweitzer talks about the good and bad of the early
critics up to about 1910, and is witty and even funny, because he is very
good natured in his manner of treatment of the topics he touches. More
recent criticism can be reviewed in a nice, detailed (and handy) book
published by InterVarsity Press, _Dictionary of Paul and His Letters_
(1993). The orientation is "moderate evangelical" but nonetheless covers
quite a lot of ground (i.e., it tries to deal with most all relevant issues
whether or not they are "politically correct" from an evangelical point of
view, more than is usual from this faith perspective).

In short, you will find that there are many problems harmonizing the details
about his activities in the letters and in Acts. Then there are serious
questions about whether Paul actually wrote the Pastoral letters, so even
some of the details in the letters are open to doubt. In the case of Acts,
we are dealing with a "secondary" source (that is, a conscious attempt to
write history), and these type sources are generally thought to be a bit
freer with the "facts" than we might expect with Paul's own letters. There
also two major themes to be found in the letters, justification by faith and
the role of Christ, and they seem to be, at times at variance with one
another. How we reconcile these themes may affect our interpretation of the
historical details and our evaluation of the social-psychological or
theological factors that may have motivated Paul.

Just take it in slooooowly, in moderate bites, then let the implications of
each mouthful of information (say, a book like _The Paul Quest_ by Ben
Witherington III) work themselves out (usually over some weeks, even months,
as you think through the information and try to make a place for it in your
mind), then take another bite. If you go for too much at once, even the
syrupy sweet stuff that tries to sew up the subject in a single simplified
book, you will just get a stomach ache.

Fun, fun! <g> And good luck! <I hope you like challenges!>

Respectfully,

Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA







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