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[Corpus-Paul] Re:Judaism: a missionary religion or just open toconverts?
- From: Bigpond Dial-up <jdickson AT bigpond.com>
- To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [Corpus-Paul] Re:Judaism: a missionary religion or just open toconverts?
- Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 11:12:40 +1000
Dear Jeff and others,
Thank you for the 'congratulations' and for the
indication of your eagerness to read my study. I hope you find it
stimulating.
I agree that there is a difference between an
activity done merely to gain respect for the Jewish communities and one
done in the hope that Gentiles would embrace the worship of the Jewish God. It
is evidence of the latter that I was talking about in my previous email. There
is evidence across a surprising range of sources that some Jews of the period
not only were eager for the conversion of Gentiles ('conversion' understood here
simply as a new allegiance to the God of the Jews) but hoped to effect this
through, as I said previously, prayer, good works, persuasion, public worship
and, on occasion, formal proselytic instruction.
Perhaps of more interest to members of this list is
the observation that a similar outlook may be discerned in the Pauline epistles.
While evidence of formal proselytic instruction of 'outsiders' is plentiful in
our documents, notice that this evidence does not relate to congregations
generally. Paul, Timothy, Peter, James, et al., are said to preach the gospel to
outsiders but believers in general are not. I don't doubt that Paul would have
been very happy to see his converts 'evangelising' their neighbours at every
opportunity but he does not appear to have taught them to do
so. They are, however, urged to engage in various supportive activities -
or expressions of 'mission-commitment' - such as prayer, financial support,
ethical and verbal apologetic, and the orientation of public worship for the
sake of the outsider. Hence, I suspect that belonging to a Pauline congregation
will, in this respect, have felt a little like belonging to a synagogue in
the Diaspora: while you were conscious that some saw it as their duty
to proclaim the message of salvation to outsiders, generally you hoped
merely to play an auxiliary role in that cause - through prayer, godly
living, church gatherings, and so on.
As an aside, I too agree that 'mission' is not a
very useful term in our discussion since it implies sending/commission. The
problem is, this word is firmly embedded in the secondary literature: the
title of my own book perpetuates that! But what is an appropriate
alternative? 'Proselytising' is perhaps etymologically more accurate, since
it connotes simply the gaining of adherents, but its pejorative sense in modern
English makes it awkward. 'Evangelism' is limited in its usefulness not
only because it excludes Jewish activities but also because, strictly speaking,
it denotes gospel-telling only. The fact that there isn't an obvious biblical
term for this range of activities (ones oriented toward the inclusion of
outsiders) is instructive in itself. I suspect Paul didn't have a category in
his head that could be labeled 'mission' or whatever - at least, not in
relation to the converts in his congregations. For the apostle, all of these
activities were probably just aspects of the expectation that believers were to
'do good to all'. 1 Cor 10:31-11:1 appears to move us in that
direction.
Kind regards,
John
John P. Dickson
Sydney, Australia
|
-
[Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?,
Cameron VanEpps, 08/17/2003
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?, Jeff Peterson, 08/17/2003
-
[Corpus-Paul] Re: Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?,
Bigpond Dial-up, 08/18/2003
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Re: Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?,
Jeff Peterson, 08/18/2003
-
[Corpus-Paul] Re:Judaism: a missionary religion or just open toconverts?,
Bigpond Dial-up, 08/18/2003
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Re:Judaism: a missionary religion or just open toconverts?,
Jeff Peterson, 08/18/2003
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Re:Judaism: a missionary religion or just opentoconverts?, Bigpond Dial-up, 08/19/2003
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Re:Judaism: a missionary religion or just open toconverts?,
Jeff Peterson, 08/18/2003
-
[Corpus-Paul] Re:Judaism: a missionary religion or just open toconverts?,
Bigpond Dial-up, 08/18/2003
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Re: Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?,
Jeff Peterson, 08/18/2003
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?,
tmcos, 08/17/2003
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?, Jeff Peterson, 08/17/2003
-
Re: [Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?,
Terence Donaldson, 08/18/2003
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?, Jeff Peterson, 08/18/2003
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?, Edgar M. Krentz, 08/18/2003
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?, Larry Swain, 08/18/2003
- Re: [Corpus-Paul] Judaism: a missionary religion or just open to converts?, Larry Swain, 08/18/2003
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