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  • From: "Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 AT attbi.com>
  • To: bobmacdonald AT shaw.ca, Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Sacrifice and atonement in Paul
  • Date: Sun, 04 May 2003 21:05:38 -0500



Bob MacDonald wrote:

> A general question on sacrifice and its relationship to atonement
>
> I am attending the international conference in Cambridge on sacrifice (June
> 30-July 1). If any of you are going to be there, it would be delightful to
> meet you.
> http://www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/CARTS/Liturgy/Conferences.html
>
> I am having some difficulty distinguishing types of sacrificial metaphor in
> Paul and the NT (part of a study over the next 5 weeks) -
>
> Do the 7 undisputed epistles have a different relationship to sacrifice as
> applied to the death of Christ than the later writings of the NT?
>
> e.g.
> 1 Thessalonians c51 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we
> should live together with him.
>
> This phrase 'died for us' seems to imply right away that within 20 years of
> the crucifixion, the interpretation of substitutionary sacrifice is fully
> developed.

You might want to have a look at Martin Hengel's _Atonement_ and my article
"Paul's 'Dying Formula": Prolegomena to an Understanding of its
Significance." at http://rhetjournal.net/Gibson.pdf to see that the "theology"
behind the expression is hardly something new -- or for that matter,
"Christian", but was an old idea to which Paul gave a new twist by noting what
kind of death and what kind of "dier" actually effected salvation.

You might also want to have a look at David Seely's _The Nobel Death_ where he
examines whether the temple liturgy provides a background to Paul's thought.

Also there was an NTS article sometime ago on sacrificial imagery in Paul
(concluding that there really isn't all that much) but I cannot now recall the
author of that piece or the NTS volume. Mark Nanos -- cal you help?

Yours,

Jeffrey Gibson
--

Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon.)

1500 W. Pratt Blvd. #1
Chicago, IL 60626

jgibson000 AT attbi.com






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