Corpus-Paul

[Terence Donaldson <terry.donaldson AT utoronto.ca>]

Greetings,

Part of the problem in our discussion of the question concerning Judaism 
and mission is that we tend to operate with an unexamined -- and, I 
think, faulty -- assumption of what a missionary religion would look 
like in antiquity. The assumption, of course, is drawn from a common 
understanding of the early Christian mission, namely, that in the first 
centuries of its existence Christianity was engaged in a systematic, 
centrally organized, area-by-area evangelization of the Roman empire, 
carried out by people who saw themselves as "missionaries" playing their 
own part in such a larger coordinated mission. But it is very difficult 
to find evidence in early (esp. post-NT) Christian material for such a 
construct. Lack of evidence notwithstanding, however, the construct 
continues to be widely assumed. At least two factors have contributed to 
this situation. One is the Pauline model of mission (but what exactly 
was that?), which has been imposed willy-nilly on the later period. The 
other is the influence of the modern missionary movement. It was John 
Townsend who pointed out a few years ago that it was not until the rise 
of the modern missionary movement in the 18th century that interpreters 
began to  speak of the "three missionary journeys" of Paul in the Acts 
of the Apostles. The idea signalled by this phrase --  a commissioned 
missionary who goes out from a commissioning church, engages in 
missionary travels, and returns periodically to report to the home body 
-- while not without some foundation in Acts, is nevertheless a more 
modern construct. In our study of the religions of late antiquity it 
might be better to dispense with the term "mission" altogether, at least 
for a while, and to investigate afresh the ways in which religions 
propagated themselves (by creating a public profile, attracting and 
incorporating new members, etc.).

Best wishes,
Terry Donaldson
Wycliffe College
Toronto