The Blackwell Companion to Paul E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1603

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The Blackwell Companion to Paul presents a distinctive dual focus approach that encompasses both the historical Paul and the history of Paul's influence. In doing so, expert contributors successfully address the interests of students of early Christianity and those of Christian theology. 

• Offers a complete overview of the life, writings and legacy of one of the key figures of Christianity
• The essays compass the major themes of Paul's life and work, as well as his impact through the centuries on theology, Church teaching, social beliefs, art, literature, and contemporary intellectual thought 
• Edited by one of the leading figures in the field of Pauline Studies 
• The contributors include a range of world-renowned academics

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Blackwell Companions to Religion

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Notes on Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I: Paul and Christian Origins

CHAPTER 1 Pauline Chronology

Methodological Questions

Individual Chronological Dates

Intervals and Series of Events in Paul’s Letters

Chronological Synthesis of the Letters of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles

Proposed Chronological Synthesis

CHAPTER 2 Paul and the Macedonian Believers

The Founding of Macedonian Congregations

Paul’s Continued Contact with His Macedonian Congregations

The Macedonian Believers’ Support of Paul’s Mission and Message

The Macedonian Christians’ Sacrificial Support of Paul’s Jerusalem Collection

From Paul to Polycarp to Porphyrios and Beyond

CHAPTER 3 Paul and the Corinthian Believers

Our Sources

Corinth in Paul’s Day

Paul Visits Corinth

After Paul’s First Departure

More Problems with Corinth

2 Corinthians

The Aftermath of 2 Corinthians

CHAPTER 4 Paul and the Galatian Believers

Reconstructing the Galatian Crisis

Engaging Paul’s Text

Galatians 1:1–2:21: Rebuking the Galatians and Setting the Record Straight

Key Text: Galatians 2:16

Galatians 3:1–4:7: The Galatian Believers’ Experience and Scripture (1)

Galatians 4:8–5:1: The Galatian Believers’ Experience and Scripture (2)

Key Issue: Galatians and Israel’s Past

Key Consensus: The Place of Galatians 5 and 6

Galatians 5:2–6:10: The Galatian Believers’ Decision and their Common Life

Galatians 6:11–18: Cross and New Creation

CHAPTER 5 Paul and the Believers of Western Asia

The Letter to Philemon

The Letter to the Colossians

The Letter to the Ephesians

Philemon, Colossians, and Ephesians as Epistolary Rituals of Worship

CHAPTER 6 Paul and the Roman Believers

Locating Paul

Locating Roman Believers

Listening in on the Letter

Characterizing Romans

Epilogue

CHAPTER 7 The Pastoral Epistles

The Letters as They Stand

The Theology that Comes to Expression in the Letters

The Problems of the Pastorals

CHAPTER 8 The Portrait of Paul in Acts

Introduction to the Issues

Brief History of Discussion

The Portrait of the Lukan Paul versus the Epistolary Paul

Paul’s Life and Chronology

The Person of Paul

Pauline Theology

Assessment of Major Contentions

CHAPTER 9 The Gospel According to St. Paul

The “Gospel”

Of Jesus’s Death and Resurrection

Why Was This “Good News”?

Justification by Faith

Participation in Christ

Becoming like Christ

The Gift of the Spirit as the Defining Mark

The Spirit and the Outworking of the Gospel

CHAPTER 10 Paul and Scripture

“Now is the Day of Salvation”: Paul’s Apostolic Hermeneutic

Foundational Issues, Debated Questions

CHAPTER 11 Paul’s Christology

Titles

Characteristics and Attributes

A Narrative Jesus?

Salvation

Christology, Church, and Ethics

Conclusion

CHAPTER 12 Paul, Judaism, and the Jewish People

“Paul and Judaism”: What is at Stake?

Jews and Judaism in the Light of the New Creation in Christ

New Creation as Israel’s Promise

The Social Context of Paul’s Theologizing

CHAPTER 13 Paul and the Law

Paul’s Inheritance

The Law in Ancient Judaism

Paul and the Law: General Comments

The Law in Galatians

The Law in Romans

The Law in 1 Corinthians and Philippians

Common Themes

Some Contested Issues

CHAPTER 14 The Text of the Pauline Corpus

Modern Editions of the Text of Paul

The Manuscripts of the Greek Tradition

Other Testimony to the Text of Paul

Organizing the Evidence

Marcion and the Text of the Pauline Canon

The Pauline Collection

Studies of the Manuscript Tradition and its Variants

Some Selected Problems

CHAPTER 15 Rhetoric in the Letters of Paul

Patterns of Arrangement

The Art of Persuasion

The Rhetorical Figures

Conclusion

CHAPTER 16 The Social Setting of Pauline Communities

General Developmental Tendencies in the Social History of Primitive Christianity

The Social Composition of the Pauline Communities

Socially Determined Conflicts

The Attractiveness of the Community

Models for the Self-understanding of Early Christian Churches

CHAPTER 17 Women in the Pauline Churches

Women, Manuscript Evidence, and Translation

Female Collaborators and Leaders in their Jewish and Greco-Roman Settings

Paul’s Pronouncements on Women and Gender

CHAPTER 18 Paul and Empire

The Setting

Paul within the First Century

Counter-imperial Messages in the Letters?

Conclusion

Part II: Readers of Paul

CHAPTER 19 Marcion

An Outline of Marcion’s Thought World10

Marcion and Paul

Marcion’s Treatment of the Text of Paul’s Letters

Some Effects

Conclusion

CHAPTER 20 Origen

The Epistles and their Author

The Interpretation of Scripture

The Divine Nature

The Son and the Holy Spirit

Sin, Grace, Faith, and Works

The Spiritual Life

CHAPTER 21 Chrysostom

The Grace of God

Justification by Faith and the Cross of Christ

Faith

Transformation in Christ

The Holy Spirit

The Church

CHAPTER 22 Augustine

Paul against the Manichees

How Does Augustine Read?

Paul as the Teacher of Grace

Paul against Pelagius

“Poured into our Hearts”

“The Fount of Love”

CHAPTER 23 Aquinas

Aquinas on Paul: Summa theologiae II-II, qq. 23–25

Aquinas on Paul: Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians

Concluding Reflections

CHAPTER 24 Luther

Luther on Paul

Reading Luther, Reading Paul

Luther’s Knowledge of the Bible and Familiarity with the Writings of Paul

Romans

CHAPTER 25 Calvin

Calvin’s Pauline Commentaries

Calvin’s Method

Hermeneutical Principles and Exegetical Practices

Pauline Themes in Calvin

Conclusion

CHAPTER 26 John and Charles Wesley

The Early Sermons

Paul, Martin Luther, and the Wesleys’ Conversions

Revival Sermons

Charles Wesley’s Hymns

Conclusion

CHAPTER 27 Barth

Background to Barth’s Encounter with Paul

Barth’s Encounter with Paul

Barth’s Conflict with the Guild over Paul

Conclusion

CHAPTER 28 Recent Continental Philosophers

Badiou and Breton

Taubes and Agamben

Conclusion

CHAPTER 29 Jewish Readings of Paul

Premodern Jewish Views of Paul

The Awakening of Jewish Interest in Paul in the Modern Period

Paul and Jewish Criticism of Christianity

Paul and Jewish Interest in Improving Interfaith Relations

Paul and Modern Jewish Identity: Intra-Jewish Debate and Zionism

Paul as a Dialogical Partner for Jewish Self-understanding

Paul and Jewish Treatments from Non-religious Perspectives

Conclusion: Paul as an Intersection of Jewish and Christian Cultures

CHAPTER 30 Orthodox Readings of Paul

Paul, Canon, and the Rule of Faith

Paul, Worship, and Doctrine

Paul, the Church Fathers, and the Meaning of Salvation

Paul in Modern Greek Biblical Studies

CHAPTER 31 African Readings of Paul

African Patristic Readings of Paul

Missionary Readings of Paul in African Contexts

Indigenous Readings of Paul in Postcolonial Africa

Conclusion

Part III: The Legacy of Paul

CHAPTER 32 Art

Portraits of Paul and Peter Together

Narrative Scenes of Paul with Peter

Portraits of Paul without Peter

Other Pauline Narrative Scenes

The Cult of Paul in Rome and the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura

CHAPTER 33 Literature

Literary Sources

Ancient and Medieval Literary Characterizations

High Middle Ages

Renaissance and Reformation

Enlightenment and Nineteenth-century Fashioning

Modern

CHAPTER 34 Christian Theology: Sin and the Fall

Sin and Sins

The Extent of Sin

Sin and the Law

Sin as Punishment and as Power

Bondage to Sin and Human Freedom

Practical Implications

CHAPTER 35 Christian Theology: The Spirit

The Person of the Holy Spirit

The Work of the Holy Spirit

Conclusion

CHAPTER 36 Christian Theology: Ethics

Teleological Ethics

Deontological Ethics

Agent-centered (Virtue) Ethics

Life “in Christ”

CHAPTER 37 Christian Theology: The Church

Paul’s Ecclesiological Motifs

Augustine

John of Damascus

Thomas Aquinas

Pope Boniface

Martin Luther

Friedrich Schleiermacher

Johann Adam Möhler

Karl Barth

Vatican II (1962–1965)

Conclusion

Index

Blackwell Companions to Religion

The Blackwell Companions to Religion series presents a collection of the most recent scholarship and knowledge about world religions. Each volume draws together newly-commissioned essays by distinguished authors in the field, and is presented in a style which is accessible to undergraduate students, as well as scholars and the interested general reader. These volumes approach the subject in a creative and forward-thinking style, providing a forum in which leading scholars in the field can make their views and research available to a wider audience.

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Edited by Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck

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The Blackwell Companion to the Hebrew Bible

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The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology

Edited by Graham Ward

The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism

Edited by Gavin Flood

The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology

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The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism

Edited by Alister E. McGrath and Darren C. Marks

The Blackwell Companion to Modern Theology

Edited by Gareth Jones

The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics

Edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells

The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics

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The Blackwell Companion to Christian Spirituality

Edited by Arthur Holder

The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion

Edited by Robert A. Segal

The Blackwell Companion to the Qur’n

Edited by Andrew Rippin

The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought

Edited by Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi’

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Edited by John F. A. Sawyer

The Blackwell Companion to Catholicism

Edited by James J. Buckley, Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, and Trent Pomplun

The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity

Edited by Ken Parry

The Blackwell Companion to the Theologians

Edited by Ian S. Markham

The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature

Edited by Rebecca Lemon, Emma Mason, John Roberts, and Christopher Rowland

The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament

Edited by David E. Aune

The Blackwell Companion to Nineteenth Century Theology

Edited by David Fergusson

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Edited by Philip Goff

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Edited by Delbert Burkett

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This edition first published 2011

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For Martin and Jenna

Notes on Contributors

Jean-Noël Aletti is Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. Among his fields of expertise are the Pauline epistles (on which he has published several commentaries) and Greco-Roman rhetoric and epistolography. His study God’s Justice in Romans has been translated into English.

Lewis Ayres is Bede Chair in Catholic Theology at Durham University. His interests in the early church’s Trinitarian thought and use of Scripture are reflected in his monographs Nicaea and its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology and Augustine and the Trinity.

John M. G. Barclay is Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University and editor of New Testament Studies. Major publications include Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora, a translation and commentary on Josephus’s Against Apion, and Obeying the Truth: Paul’s Ethics in Galatians. A study of Paul’s theology of grace is forthcoming.

Richard E. Burnett is Professor of Systematic Theology at Erskine Theological Seminary. A specialist in the study of John Calvin and Karl Barth, he has published Karl Barth’s Theological Exegesis: The Hermeneutical Principles of the Römerbrief Period and is the editor of the forthcoming Westminster Handbook to Karl Barth.

Stephen Chester is Professor of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary. He has published Conversion at Corinth: Perspectives on Conversion in Paul’s Theology and the Corinthian Church as well as a number of studies on Reformation interpretations of Paul.

Ralph Del Colle is Associate Professor of Theology at Marquette University. The co-editor of the International Journal of Systematic Theology, he has published Christ and the Spirit: Spirit Christology in Trinitarian Perspective and numerous studies on Trinitarian theology, pneumatology, and the doctrine of grace.

James D. G. Dunn is Emeritus Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University. Among his major monographs may be mentioned commentaries on Romans, Galatians, Colossians, and Philemon; The Theology of Paul the Apostle; Jesus Remembered; and Beginning from Jerusalem.

Simon J. Gathercole is Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies and Fellow, Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. Currently the editor of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament, he has published monographs on the Gospel of Judas, Christology in the synoptic gospels, and Pauline soteriology.

Beverly Roberts Gaventa is Helen H. P. Manson Professor of New Testament Interpreta­tion and Exegesis at Princeton Theological Seminary. In addition to Our Mother Saint Paul and Mary: Glimpses of the Mother of Jesus, she has published commentaries on Acts and the Thessalonian epistles, and is currently preparing a commentary on Romans.

Christopher A. Hall is Chancellor of Eastern University and Dean of Palmer Theological Seminary. The associate editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series, he has co-edited the volume on Mark’s Gospel and published Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers; Studying Theology with the Church Fathers; and Worshiping with the Church Fathers.

Nicholas M. Healy is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies and Associate Dean at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. John’s University. Key publications include Thomas Aquinas: Theologian of the Christian Life and (reflecting his interest in ecclesiology) Church, World and the Christian Life: Practical-Prophetic Ecclesiology.

John Paul Heil is Professor of New Testament at The Catholic University of America. He has published books on Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Hebrews, in addition to several monographs on the Gospels.

Arland J. Hultgren is Asher O. and Carrie Nasby Professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary. His published works, covering a wide range of topics in the study of Early Christianity, include The Parables of Jesus; Paul’s Gospel and Mission; Christ and His Benefits; The Rise of Normative Christianity; and Paul’s Letter to the Romans: A Commentary.

David Lyle Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities at Baylor University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He was general editor and co-author of A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. Other monographs include People of the Book; House of the Interpreter; and a forthcoming theological commentary on Luke.

Robin M. Jensen is Luce Chancellor’s Professor of the History of Christian Art and Worship at Vanderbilt University. Key publications include Understanding Early Christian Art; Face to Face: The Portrait of the Divine in Early Christianity; and Living Water: Images, Symbols, and Settings of Early Christian Baptism.

Dirk Jongkind is Fellow and Graduate Tutor at St. Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge, and Research Fellow at Tyndale House. He has broad interests in epigraphy, papyrology, and archaeology in the Greco-Roman world, and a special interest in the textual criticism of the Greek Bible, reflected in his monograph Scribal Habits in Codex Sinaiticus.

Craig S. Keener is Professor of New Testament at Palmer Theological Seminary, Eastern University. A prolific author, he has published commentaries on Matthew, John, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Revelation. Other books include The Historical Jesus of the Gospels and Paul, Women and Wives.

P. Travis Kroeker is Professor of Philosophical Theology and Ethics in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University. He has published Christian Ethics and Political Economy in North America; Remembering the End: Dostoevsky as Prophet to Modernity (co-authored); and numerous articles, most recently on messianic ethics and political theology.

Anthony N. S. Lane is Professor of Historical Theology at the London School of Theology. His publications include A Concise History of Christian Thought; Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue; and (on Calvin) Calvin and Bernard of Clairvaux; John Calvin: Student of the Church Fathers; and A Reader’s Guide to Calvin’s Institutes.

Daniel R. Langton is Professor of the History of Jewish-Christian Relations at the University of Manchester. His study over many years of Jewish readings of Paul has led to the publication of The Apostle Paul in the Jewish Imagination. Other publications include Claude Montefiore: His Life and Thought and Children of Zion: Jewish and Christian Perspectives on the Holy Land.

Grant LeMarquand is Professor of Biblical Studies and Mission at the Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry. He has contributed to The Bible in Africa, co-edited Theological Education in Contemporary Africa, and published a monograph comparing North Atlantic and African interpretations of the Gospel story of the bleeding woman.

Matthew Levering is Professor of Theology at the University of Dayton. He has co-edited the Oxford Handbook on the Trinity (forthcoming); Aquinas the Augustinian; and Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas. Among his own monographs may be mentioned Predestination; Participatory Biblical Exegesis; and a theological commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah.

Margaret Y. MacDonald is Professor of Religious Studies at St. Francis Xavier University. Her interests include the Pauline epistles (The Pauline Churches, a commentary on Colossians and Ephesians) and women in early Christianity (Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion; A Woman’s Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity [co-authored]).

I. Howard Marshall is Emeritus Professor of New Testament Exegesis, University of Aberdeen. His many publications include the International Critical Commentary volume on the Pastoral Epistles; commentaries on Luke, Acts, the Thessalonian and Johannine Epistles; and New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel.

Mickey L. Mattox is Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Marquette University. Specializing on the theology and biblical exegesis of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, he has co-authored The Substance of the Faith: Luther’s Doctrinal Theology for Today and published a monograph on Luther’s interpretation of the women of Genesis.

Gilbert Meilaender is Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Professor of Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University. He has co-edited the Oxford Handbook of Theological Ethics and published Faith and Faithfulness: Basic Themes in Christian Ethics; The Way that Leads There; Freedom of a Christian; and Neither Beast Nor God: The Dignity of the Human Person.

Stanley E. Porter is President, Dean, and Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College. The editor or co-editor of many volumes, his own monographs include Verbal Aspect in the Greek of the New Testament, Paul in Acts, The Criteria for Authenticity in Historical Jesus Research, and (with Wendy J. Porter) New Testament Papyri and Parchments: New Editions.

Heikki Räisänen is Emeritus Professor of New Testament Exegesis, University of Helsinki. His publications, reflecting a broad range of interests, include Paul and the Law; Jesus, Paul and Torah; Beyond New Testament Theology; Marcion, Muhammad and the Mahatma; and The Rise of Christian Beliefs: The Thought World of Early Christians.

Rainer Riesner is Professor of New Testament at the Institute for Evangelical Theology, Dortmund University. His many publications include Paul’s Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology; Jesus als Lehrer; and Bethanien jenseits des Jordan.

Marguerite Shuster is Harold John Ockenga Professor of Preaching and Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary. Presently working on a study of divine providence, she has published Power, Pathology, Paradox: The Dynamics of Evil and Good; Who We Are: Our Dignity as Human (with Paul K. Jewett); and The Fall and Sin: What We Have Become as Sinners.

Todd D. Still is Associate Professor of Christian Scriptures at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University. He has edited Jesus and Paul Reconnected; co-edited After The First Urban Christians; published Conflict at Thessalonica and a commentary on Colossians; and has a forthcoming commentary on Philippians and Philemon.

Theodore G. Stylianopoulos is the Emeritus Archbishop Iakovos Professor of Orthodox Theology and Professor of New Testament at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Among his publications may be mentioned The Good News of Christ; The New Testament: An Orthodox Perspective; and The Way of Christ: Gospel, Spirituality, and Renewal in Orthodoxy.

Gerd Theissen is Professor Emeritus for New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg. A pioneer in the sociological study of early Christianity, he has published Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity; The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity; Psychological Aspects of Pauline Theology; and The Religion of the Earliest Churches.

John R. Tyson is Professor of Theology at United Theological Seminary (Dayton). His many studies of the Wesleys and early Methodism include Charles Wesley on Sanctification; Charles Wesley: A Reader; In the Midst of Early Methodism: Lady Huntingdon and Her Correspondence (co-authored); and Assist Me to Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley.

J. Ross Wagner is Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. His interest in early Jewish and Christian interpretation of Scripture is reflected in the monograph Heralds of the Good News: Paul and Isaiah “In Concert” in the Letter to the Romans, as well as in ongoing studies of the Old Greek version of Isaiah.

Stephen Westerholm is Professor of Early Christianity in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University. He has published Israel’s Law and the Church’s Faith: Paul and His Recent Interpreters; Understanding Paul; and Perspectives Old and New on Paul in addition to studies on the Synoptic Gospels and historical Jesus.

Peter Widdicombe is Associate Professor of Patristics and Historical Theology in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University. He has published The Fatherhood of God from Origen to Athanasius and articles on the interpretation of Scripture and doctrine in the Patristic period.

N. T. Wright is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews. His forthcoming Paul and the Faithfulness of God is the fourth volume in a series on Christian Origins and the Question of God. Among many other titles may be mentioned Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision; Paul: Fresh Perspectives; and The Climax of the Covenant.

Acknowledgments

The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the permissions granted to reproduce copyrighted material in this book:

Figure 32.1 Paul with capsa, Catacomb of Domitilla, Rome.

Photo credit: Estelle Brettman, The International Catacomb Society.

Figure 32.2 Busts of Peter and Paul with Christ, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, mid-6th century.

Photo credit: Holly Hayes, Sacred Destinations Images.

Figure 32.3 Peter and Paul, Arian Baptistery, Ravenna, early 6th century.

Photo credit: Robin Jensen.

Figure 32.4 Jesus giving the law to Peter and Paul, Mausoleum of Constanza, Rome, mid-4th century.

Photo credit: Robin M. Jensen.

Figure 32.5 Jesus enthroned with apostles, Basilica of Sta. Pudenziana, Rome, ca. 400.

Photo credit: Robin M. Jensen.

Figure 32.6 Embrace of Peter and Paul, 10th-century ivory now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Photo credit: Br. Lawrence Lew, OP.

Figure 32.7 Arrest of Paul, detail of Passion Sarcophagus, Vatican Museum, ca. 340–360.

Photo credit: Robin M. Jensen.

Figure 32.8 Alessandro Algardi, The Beheading of St. Paul, ca. 1650. San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna.

Photo credit: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 32.9 Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da), The Conversion on the Way to Damascus, ca. 1600, Cerai Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.

Photo credit: Scala/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 32.10 Paul disputing with the Jews and escaping from Damascus, 12th-century mosaic from the Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily.

Photo credit: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 32.11 Ivory of Paul with Thecla, Rome, ca. 430, now in the British Museum.

Photo credit: Robin M. Jensen.

Figure 32.12 Diptych with the stories of Paul on Malta and Adam in Paradise, now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.

Photo: George Tatge, 2000. Photo credit: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 32.13 Slab from Paul’s tomb, from the Basilica of St. Paul fuori le Mura.

Photo credit: Robin M. Jensen.

Introduction

Stephen Westerholm

Paul’s primary readership is not scholarly, but among scholars he is read primarily by students of the New Testament and early Christianity, on the one hand, and of Christian theology, on the other. The Blackwell Companion to Paul is designed to address the interests of both and to facilitate their mutual conversation.

That students of the New Testament and of Christian theology are talking to each other is something of a recent development.1 Any suggestion that they should do so would have made no sense in the premodern era and been programmatically opposed in the centuries that followed.2 In the earlier period, Paul’s writings were characteristically read as a vehicle of divine communication to humankind. Those who sought answers to life’s most fundamental questions turned to Paul (and to the other writers of Scripture) to find them, and those who read Paul’s letters (and the other writings of Scripture) did so assured that what they encountered there was true and foundational. Theology (in other words) meant interpreting Scripture, and Scripture was interpreted theologically. Not until the tasks were conceived of as distinct enterprises, assigned to different practitioners, could “mutual conversation” even be contemplated.

The very conditions that made such conversation possible were such as to make it unpalatable. In many ways, Spinoza set the agenda for the modern academic study of the Bible (Spinoza 1951; Latin original 1670). To read the Bible properly (it is held), one must approach the text without any of the biases of faith: to assume that its contents were divinely revealed, and hence coherent and true, is to prejudice one’s understanding of the text from the outset (Spinoza 1951, 8, 99–100). The goal of biblical interpretation must be to determine the meaning rather than the truth of the text (Spinoza 1951, 101; the distinction was unthinkable earlier) as well as the (natural, not supernatural) processes that led to its composition. In short, the Bible should be read “like any other book” (Jowett 1860, 377) and studied, not for what it reveals about God, but for what it can tell us about ancient Israelite history and religion, or the history of the early followers of Jesus (Gilkey 1961). The retelling of these histories, like that of any other history, involves tracing the sequences of events to their (natural, not supernatural) causes: ancient Israelite religion had its home and origin among the many religions in the ancient Near East; early Christianity was (and must be studied as) one of many religious movements in the Greco-Roman world (Troeltsch 1991; German original 1898).

Such an approach eliminates the quest for (and, indeed, the possibility of finding) contemporary relevance in the biblical texts; but this (it is held) is hardly to be lamented, since a concern for relevance is liable to distort one’s interpretation of ancient texts and reconstruction of ancient history. Their task so construed, students of the Bible have had little interest in conversation with theologians; the latter, for their part, have been wont to dismiss the modern practice of biblical studies as a trivializing antiquarianism.3

There is no doubt that the biblical writings, and the history of early Christianity, continue (and will continue) to be studied by many who think it important to exclude religious convictions from their work – indeed, by many in whose work anti-religious sentiments are very much in evidence. The attention that such readers give to hitherto overlooked aspects of the texts, and the fresh questions they raise, have led to insights that have become the common property of all interpreters of the Bible. Many of the issues much debated within this academic field are treated in the first part of this book: questions of Pauline chronology; of the apostle’s continuing relations with the communities of believers that he founded; of the social stratification of those communities, and of the roles played by women within them; of Paul’s stance toward the imperial powers of his day, on the one hand, and toward his Jewish heritage, on the other; of the use he made of rhetoric in his letters, and of how those letters have been transmitted over the centuries. Even topics sounding more theological – Paul’s understanding of the gospel, of Scripture and (specifically) the Mosaic law, of Christology – are recognized by historians with no interest in theology to have played a crucial role in the shaping of early Christian thought and identity. In short, Part I of this book addresses topics that have always lain within the scope of biblical scholarship.

At the same time, there has always been something strange about an understanding of biblical studies that requires it to end where (as one observer put it) the history of the Bible begins (Levenson 1993, 107): are not the understandings of Paul that guided the thinking of such giants of history as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and the Wesleys at least as important as the most recently proposed reconstruction of what the apostle really thought by an associate professor at a local university? Does not the insistence that Paul’s writings be studied simply for what they reveal about one religious movement among many in the first-century Greco-Roman world ring hollow given that, in much of the world of the twenty-first century, one is never more than a few miles from churches in which the letters of Paul continue to find a place in lectionaries and sermons, and from private homes in which small groups, made up neither of scholars nor of clergy, meet each week to study them? That Paul’s letters have been the subject of continuous and intense study for two thousand years surely merits the attention of students of the apostle. The recent explosion of interest in the history of interpretation4 seems therefore very much in order, and it is by no means confined to scholars with theological concerns – though, to be sure, it marks a natural bridge between the disciplines of biblical studies and theology.5 A distinctive feature of The Blackwell Companion to Paul is the prominence given in Part II to Paul’s impact on (an inevitably select group6 of) his interpreters.

And on certain communities of readers. Though only a very small sampling of such communities could be included here, their presence ought nonetheless to serve as a reminder that Paul’s letters are not the preserve of the ivory tower. Of special interest, given Paul’s own wrestlings with his Jewish heritage, is the way in which Jews have read his writings. It is hoped that the horizons of many readers will be expanded by an introduction to Orthodox and African readings of the apostle as well.

Part III is devoted, more broadly, to Paul’s legacy. His impact on art and literature is often neglected; it is expertly introduced here. Of the many areas in which Paul’s writings have shaped Christian thinking, four have been selected for inclusion. In each case, the distinctiveness and profound influence of Paul’s thought are indisputable: sin and the “fall,” the Spirit of God, ethics, and the church. Contributors to this section of the Companion were asked to say something about how Paul set the agenda for, and determined the boundaries of, Christian thinking on their topic. Their stimulating and illuminating responses make a unique contribution to this volume.

But (to repeat) Paul’s primary readership is not scholarly. To fail to account for this truism is to fall short of grasping Paul’s significance. In a well-known treatise, and in his own inimitable way, Søren Kierkegaard insisted that a distinction be drawn between a genius and an apostle (Kierkegaard 1962; Danish original 1847). Geniuses, however extraordinary their gifts, remain within the realm of the humanly possible, and they speak without authority. Paul was no genius: he was, after all, hardly remarkable as a literary stylist, of unknown competence as a tent-maker, and, when it comes to profundity, not to be compared with a Plato or a Shakespeare. But even to consider him in these terms, no matter how complimentary our assessment of his gifts, is to rob him of his true importance. Paul was an apostle who spoke with authority the divine message he was commissioned to deliver. As such, he commands a hearing.

Not all students of Paul will allow the reality of Kierkegaard’s distinction, but it captures well Paul’s own self-understanding and the point of his endeavors, and it explains why his hold on two millennia of readers exceeds that of Plato and Shakespeare. Further specification, however, is needed. An “apostle,” as someone (by definition) sent on a mission, requires a sender: Paul’s “calling” was that of an apostle (he could also say “servant” or “slave”) of Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:1; cf. Rom 1:1). It originated when (as Paul put it) “God was pleased to reveal his Son to me” (Gal 1:15–16); thereafter, both his life and his proclamation could be summed up in the single word “Christ” (Phil 1:18, 21; cf. 1 Cor 1:23; 2:2; 2 Cor 4:5), who was to be “magnified” in all he did (Phil 1:20). To be sure, Paul did not derive his idiom from Jesus: the theological abstractions and argumentation of the epistles are uniquely his own, as is the head-scratching provoked by his parables (Rom 7:2–3; 11:17–24). On the other hand, Paul learned from his Lord of faith that moves mountains and banishes anxiety (Matt 17:20 and 1 Cor 13:2; Matt 6:25–34 and Phil 4:6–7); of the permanence of marriage and the (secondary, but real) obligation to pay taxes (Matt 19:3–9 and 1 Cor 7:10–11; Matt 22:21 and Rom 13:6–7); of the primacy of love, even for enemies, whose evil is to be met – and overcome – with good (Matt 22:34–40 and Rom 13:8–10 [cf. 1 Cor 13]; Matt 5:43–48 and Rom 12:14–21); of the virtues of meekness and lowliness, marking a life of servanthood (Matt 5:5; 11:29 and 2 Cor 10:1; Gal 5:23; Phil 2:3; Matt 20:25–28 and 2 Cor 4:5; Gal 5:13); of a discipleship of dying in order to live (Matt 16:24–25 and 2 Cor 4:7–18). From Jesus, too, came the “good news” that, with Jesus, the promised day of God’s salvation had dawned (Matt 4:17; 12:28; 13:16–17; cf. 2 Cor 6:2), and that the outpouring of God’s love embraced “sinners” (Matt 9:10–13; Luke 15:1–32; cf. Rom 4:5; 5:8). The new age had begun, and its consummation was imminent (Matt 24:44; 1 Thess 4:13–18). In these and other ways, the life and teaching of Jesus were important to Paul.7

Even more foundational were Christ’s death and resurrection – as, indeed, they are the climax, not merely the conclusion, of his activities in the gospels. Paul shared the common conviction of the early church that Christ “died for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3). But it was Paul who found peculiar significance in his death by crucifixion: so excruciating and shameful a death marked both the extent of Christ’s humility and obedience (Phil 2:8) and the divine overturning of all human values (1 Cor 1:18–31). It was, for Paul, the ultimate proof of divine love for the weak, the sinful, the enemies of God, and it effected their reconciliation to God (Rom 5:6–10). In Christ’s resurrection, God had decisively overcome the powers of evil and inaugurated a new age and a new creation; with Christ’s resurrection came the promise of resurrection for all who are found “in Christ” (Rom 8; 1 Cor 15).

In the end, the story of Paul is the story of the power of Paul’s message to create communities of faith and to transform the lives and thinking of their members. Its staying power, by any standards, has been remarkable. It invites the study of biblical scholars and the reflection of theologians, while it continues to command a hearing from those who are neither, but who find themselves addressed by the letters of Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ.

Notes

1 Among the many forums in which this conversation is currently taking place may be mentioned the Journal of Theological Interpretation, the Brazos Theological Commentary series, and the Two Horizons Commentary series (Eerdmans). See also Vanhoozer (2005); O’Day and Petersen (2009).

2 See Rowe and Hays (2007).

3 Both positions were never more in evidence, or more passionately argued, than in the storm provoked by the appearance of Karl Barth’s commentary on Romans. See chapter 27 of this volume.

4 It will be sufficient to mention here the launching, from the 1990s and later, of three commentary series in English devoted to the history of interpretation: the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (InterVarsity Press), the Blackwell Bible Commentaries, and The Church’s Bible (Eerdmans).

5 Another important bridge has been the canonical approach to scriptural texts advocated by Brevard Childs.

6 The choice of each interpreter included is easily justified. That the inclusion of others would have been equally justifiable is not denied.

7 See the articles in Still (2007).

References

Gilkey, Langdon B. 1961. Cosmology, Ontology, and the Travail of Biblical Language. Journal of Religion 41: 194–205.

Jowett, Benjamin. 1860. On the Interpretation of Scripture. Pages 330–433 in Frederick Temple and others, Essays and Reviews. London: John W. Parker and Son.

Kierkegaard, Søren. 1962. Of the Difference between a Genius and an Apostle. Pages 87–108 in Søren Kierkegaard, The Present Age. Translated by Alexander Dru. New York: Harper & Row.

Levenson, Jon D. 1993. The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism: Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

O’Day, Gail R., and David L. Petersen, editors. 2009. Theological Bible Commentary. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

Rowe, C. Kavin, and Richard B. Hays. 2007. Biblical Studies. Pages 435–455 in The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology. Edited by John Webster, Kathryn Tanner, and Iain Torrance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Spinoza, Benedict de. 1951. Theologico-Political Treatise. Pages 3–266 in The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza: A Theologico-Political Treatise and A Political Treatise. Translated by R. H. M. Elwes. New York: Dover.

Still, Todd D., editor. 2007. Jesus and Paul Reconsidered: Fresh Pathways into an Old Debate. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Troeltsch, Ernst. 1991. Historical and Dogmatic Method in Theology. Pages 11–18 in Ernst Troeltsch, Religion in History. Minneapolis: Fortress.

Vanhoozer, Kevin J., editor. 2005. Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker.

Part I: Paul and Christian Origins

1 Pauline Chronology

Rainer Riesner

2 Paul and the Macedonian Believers

Todd D. Still

3 Paul and the Corinthian Believers

Craig S. Keener

4 Paul and the Galatian Believers

Stephen Chester

5 Paul and the Believers of Western Asia

John Paul Heil

6 Paul and the Roman Believers

Beverly Roberts Gaventa

7 The Pastoral Epistles

I. Howard Marshall

8 The Portrait of Paul in Acts

Stanley E. Porter

9 The Gospel According to St. Paul

James D. G. Dunn

10 Paul and Scripture

J. Ross Wagner

11 Paul’s Christology

Simon J. Gathercole

12 Paul, Judaism, and the Jewish People

John M. G. Barclay

13 Paul and the Law

Arland J. Hultgren

14 The Text of the Pauline Corpus

Dirk Jongkind

15 Rhetoric in the Letters of Paul

Jean-Noël Aletti

16 The Social Setting of Pauline Communities

Gerd Theissen

17 Women in the Pauline Churches

Margaret Y. MacDonald

18 Paul and Empire

N. T. Wright

CHAPTER 1

Pauline Chronology

Rainer Riesner

Methodological Questions

A decisive factor in any reconstruction of Pauline chronology is the evaluation of the available sources. With regard to the letters in the name of the apostle, methodological caution dictates that we begin with those letters that scholarship generally considers to be genuine: Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. Even here, evaluation of the letters may be influenced by the assumption that the letters to the Corinthians and Philippians, in particular, were assembled from various writings, implying that the correspondence was conducted over a protracted period of time. In the following analysis, the unity of all the letters is assumed since we lack text-critical evidence, literary parallels, and any indication in post-New Testament literature that would support breaking up the letters (cf. Carson and Moo 2005, 429–444, 509–510).

On the historical value of the Acts of the Apostles for the chronology of Paul, three positions have been taken.

(1) For historical purposes, the Acts of the Apostles is all but worthless, and a chronological reconstruction should be based exclusively on the genuine letters of Paul (Buck and Taylor 1969; Hyldahl 1986; Knox 1987). This position is problematic, however, since no statement in Paul’s letters allows a clear connection to a concrete date from contemporary history, rendering the establishment of an absolute chronology effectively impossible. For this reason, reference is often made to Acts in spite of the desired methodological rigor. The isolated chronological indicators in Paul’s letters leave much room for interpretation. Hence, reconstructions differ greatly from one another, and no consensus seems possible along these lines (Riesner 1998, 10–28).

(2) Others, while assigning the letters basic priority, nonetheless include individual traditions deemed reliable from Acts. These traditions, however, must be tested critically before they can be added to information derived from Paul. If greater confidence is placed in Acts because, for example, the “we”-narratives (Acts 16:10–17; 20:5–15; 21:1–18; 27:1–28:16) are thought to be based on the travel diary of one of Paul’s companions, then the course of events for longer narrative sequences may be judged trustworthy (Jewett 1979; Donfried 1992). If, on the other hand, all that is thought credible are a few fragments of tradition, then their arrangement becomes much more a matter of subjective judgment (Suhl 1975; Lüdemann 1984).

(3) Finally, many see in the Acts of the Apostles the work of Luke, an occasional companion of Paul (Hemer 1990; Hengel and Schwemer 1997, 6–11), and as such at least in part a primary source (Riesner 1998; Porter 2000a, 205). This does not mean, however, that the reports of Acts can be used uncritically. It is remarkable how chronological indicators appear with differing frequency and degrees of specificity in the various parts of Acts. Such indications are most striking in the “we”-narratives and segments closely related to them. On the whole, the first main section (Acts 1–15) offers only very general chronological pointers. This allows an inference to be drawn about Luke’s approach: where he possessed neither personal knowledge nor traditions with specific chronological details, he clearly refused to invent them in order to lend greater authenticity to his presentation. Conversely, this increases our confidence in information that he might plausibly have acquired from first-hand experience or later inquiry. Details from the Pauline letters also require critical assessment whether, for example, they present events in a compressed fashion for rhetorical reasons. Wherever possible, the information of both sources should be further tested by correlating it with profane historical or patristic sources.

The reconstruction of a Pauline chronology should involve three steps. (1) An attempt must be made to ascertain individual chronological details by combining information from a plurality of sources. The goal of this step is to obtain as many absolute dates as possible. (2) The letters of Paul offer a few relative dates and also allow a few chains of events to be recognized. (3) Finally, the attempt is made to establish an overall picture that is as coherent as possible, combining the individual chronological details, the chains of events derived from Paul’s letters, and temporal and sequential information discernible in Acts.

Individual Chronological Dates

The Crucifixion of Jesus

The crucifixion of Jesus is a chronological fixed point (terminus post quem) after which the call of the Pharisee Saul to become the Christian apostle Paul necessarily occurred. Pontius Pilate was prefect of the “special” Roman territory of Judea from 26 to 36 (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.89–95, 122–126; see Riesner 1998, 35–36), and was for this reason Jesus’s judge in Jerusalem (Mark 15:1–15). John the Baptist appeared as a public figure “in the fifteenth year of the reign [hgemonia] of Emperor Tiberius” (Luke 3:1).1 The Greek expression refers to the co-regency that began in 12/13; hence, the information from Luke’s special source points to the year 26/27. This fits well with the fact that, in parts of the Jewish world, the year 27/28 was considered to be an apocalyptic jubilee (Wacholder 1975). The Baptist, according to the evangelists, was awaiting the imminent coming of the Son of Man/Messiah (Matt 3:7–12; Luke 3:7–9, 15–18). For the public appearance of Jesus in 27/28, we have the evidence of John 2:20, since the construction of the temple by Herod the Great (Jewish Antiquities 15.380), which was begun in 20/19 BC, now lay forty-six years in the past. If we then follow the narrative of John, allowing a two- to three-year period for Jesus’s public activities (John 2:13; 6:4; 12:1), the Passover of his death can be placed between 29 and 31.

According to all the evangelists, the crucifixion took place on the Day of Preparation (paraskeu) before a Sabbath (Matt 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54–56; John 19:31, 42), and thus on a Friday. According to John, the Sabbath was also the start of the Passover (John 18:28; 19:14), a dating supported by Paul, who describes the crucified Jesus as a “sacrificed” Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7). He calls the resurrected Jesus the “first fruits” (aparch; 1 Cor 15:20), and speaks of the resurrection “on the third day” (1 Cor 15:4). The first fruits of the barley harvest were dedicated to God on Nisan 16 (Lev 23:10–11), and so the day on which Jesus died was Nisan 14 (Riesner 1998, 48–49; White 2007, 123–131). According to the most reliable astronomical calculation, between the years 26 and 36 it is certain that Nisan 14 fell on a Friday on April 7, 30 (Finegan 1998, 359–365); the other proposed date, April 3, 33 (Humphreys and Waddington 1989; Hoehner 1992), is very uncertain (Riesner 1998, 54–58). The date of April 7 (Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.21.146) and the year 30 (Tertullian, Against the Jews 8)2 are also to be found in the oldest traditions of the church (Strobel 1977). Thus, there is a relatively widespread consensus that Jesus was crucified on April 7, 30 (Dunn 2003, 312).

Paul’s Call

For the year that Paul was called by the risen Jesus near Damascus, early Christian tradition offers two competing dates. The first places the stoning of Stephen in the “seventh year” after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus (Strobel 1977, 116). Thus, if we count from 30, we arrive at 36/37. At this point there was a vacancy in the governorship following the recall of Pilate (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 18.89, 237; see Riesner 1998, 36–37), during which an unauthorized Jewish proceeding against Stephen (Acts 6:8–15; 7:54–8:1) is conceivable (Dockx 1984, 223–230). Against this tradition is the fact that it is relatively late and that it can be explained as derived from speculation about providential seven-year epochs. The second tradition can be found in relatively early (i.e., from the second century) and very diverse sources, such as the Jewish-Christian Ascension of Isaiah (9:16), the gnostic Apocryphon of James (Nag Hammadi Codex I.2.19–24), and the apocryphal Acts of Paul (see Gebhardt 1902, 130), which are all of the view that Paul’s call occurred around one and a half years after the resurrection, or “in the second year after the ascension.” That would give us the year 31/32 (Riesner 1998, 59–74; Dunn 2009, 257).

The Flight from Damascus

At the time of Paul’s flight from Damascus, “the ethnarch [ethnarchs; NRSV “governor”] under King Aretas guarded the city” (2 Cor 11:32). The Nabatean king Aretas IV is the only person mentioned both in the undisputed letters of Paul and in other contemporary historical sources. Scholars who try to construct a chronology on the basis of the letters alone see here a fixed point on which to build (Campbell 2002). But neither a handing over of the rule of Damascus to Aretas IV by the Emperor Caligula in the years 37–39 (Welborn 1999), nor a violent occupation of the city by the Nabateans (Bunine 2006; cf. Bowersock 1983, 68–69), can be established on the basis of the literary sources (Hengel and Schwemer 1997, 129–131; Riesner 1998, 79–84) or the numismatic evidence (Knauf 1998). The “ethnarch under King Aretas” was likely the oveseer of the Nabatean quarter in Damascus (Knauf 1983; Sack 1989, 14). The same expression is used for the overseer of the Jewish quarter in Alexandria (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 14.117; Strabo, Geography 17.798), whereas for a military governor the term stratgos would be expected. The only certain chronological point (terminus ante quem) is the death of Aretas IV in 40, before which the flight of Paul must have occurred.

Persecution under Agrippa I and the Famine under Claudius

According to Acts 12:1–2, (Herod) Agrippa I had James, the son of Zebedee, “killed with the sword.” Agrippa ruled over Judea from 41 to 44 (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 19.343). The demonstrative use of the ius gladii and the popular proceeding against a deviant religious minority such as the Jewish Christians are more likely to belong to the early part of his reign in 41/42. The persecution may have been ignited by the “Hellenists” who were driven out of Jerusalem into Syrian Antioch and had begun a mission to Gentiles (Acts 11:19–21), arousing the suspicion of the Roman authorities, who called the new group “Christians” (Acts 11:26). Evidently, there were Jewish riots against them in Antioch in 39–40 (Chronicle of John Malalas 244–245). Luke mentions a collection journey of Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem around the time of the death of Agrippa in early 44 (Acts 11:29–30; 12:25). The Jewish Christians there were suffering from “a severe famine” that struck “all the world” during the reign of Claudius (Acts 11:28). The entire reign of Claudius (41–54) was characterized by famines (Suetonius, Claudius 18.2), which were particularly severe in Palestine in 44/46 (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.51–53, 101; Eusebius, Chronicle [Helm edition, 181]).

The Cypriot Proconsul Sergius Paullus

According to Acts 13:6–12, Paul met the proconsul Sergius Paul[l]us on his first missionary voyage with Barnabas to Cyprus. Three inscriptions have been cited in order to establish the proconsul’s dates. An inscription from Soloi in North Cyprus (Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas III 930) should be excluded, since it belongs to the second century (Mitford 1980, 1302–1303). An inscription from Kytheria in Cyprus mentions a Quintus Sergius (Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas III 935) for whom dates during the reign of Claudius were long proposed, but he is now thought to have held office during the time of Gaius Caligula (Mitford 1980, 1300; cf. Christol and Drew-Bear 2002, 187) or Tiberius (Campbell 2005). These last two datings present a major problem for the framework of Acts, which puts the proconsulship of Sergius Paullus after the death of Agrippa I, and thus after 44 and within the reign of Claudius. But it is by no means evident from the fragmentary inscription that the cognomen of Quintus Sergius is to be restored as Paullus. Scholars who, in an attempt to topple the historical framework of Acts, read the cognomen Paullus into this fragmentary source are guilty of arguing in a circle. The inscription most likely to be connected to this proconsul comes from the city of Rome (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum VI 31545). It mentions an L. Sergius Paullus, who was presumably curator of the Tiber in 41/42 (Weiss 2009b). The occupancy of this office would fit well with a later career as proconsul of a senatorial province such as Cyprus.

Claudius’s Edict of Expulsion from Rome

As Paul reached Corinth from Athens on his second missionary journey, he met “a Jew[ish Christian] named Aquila … who had recently [prosphats] come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome” (Acts 18:2). Much later than Luke, around 130, Suetonius also mentions an expulsion of Jews from Rome under the same emperor “because, incited by Christ [impulsore Chresto], they were constantly causing riots” (Claudius 25.4). Dio Cassius mentions a ban on meetings of Roman Jews (Roman History 60.6.6) in connection with the beginning of Claudius’s reign. Scholars who see all three sources referring to the same event draw on Dio in dating it to 41/42. This assumption, too, results in an insurmountable difficulty for the framework of Acts (Murphy-O’Connor 1996, 9–15). The reconstruction of events is made more complicated by the fact that neither Josephus nor Tacitus mentions an expulsion edict of Claudius, and the work of Dio on the later period of this emperor’s rule is only inadequately preserved by Byzantine excerpts. The solution least burdened with additional hypotheses and already preferred by ancient historians (Levick 1990, 121; Botermann 1996) claims that Dio referred to an early action of the emperor that was later sharpened by the banishment that Luke and Suetonius (and perhaps also a Scholion on Juvenal 4.117) jointly attest.

Suetonius’s rather unclear mode of expression suggests that claims of Jesus’s Messiahship made by Jewish Christians in Rome led to disturbances in synagogues, as Luke reports happened in other cities (Acts 14:1–6, 19–20; 17:1–9) and as Paul, too, presupposes (2 Cor 11:24–25). Beginning in 48, serious zealot disturbances began in Judea (Josephus, Jewish War 2.232–246; Jewish Antiquities 20.118–136), and in the same year there is evidence for a Jewish persecution of the Christian community in Antioch in Syria (Chronicle of John Malalas 247). Paul Orosius, a Christian writer on world history in the fourth/fifth centuries, dates the Roman edict of expulsion to “the ninth year of Claudius” (Against the Pagans 7.6.15–16), that is, to the year 49. Orosius relied on Josephus, who does not, however, supply any such information. It is possible, however, that just such a chronological indicator was present in the historical work of the Jewish Christian Hegesippos, who visited Rome around 180 (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.11; 4.22; Riesner 1998, 180–186). In any event, it is not possible for Orosius to have derived this year from Acts.

The Achaian Proconsul Gallio

According to Acts 18:12–17, during Paul’s first stay in Corinth, the capital of the senatorial province of Achaia, he was brought before the proconsul Gallio by a segment of the Jewish synagogue community. A turning point for the discussion of Pauline chronology came with the publication in 1905 of an inscription from Delphi, to which additional fragments were later assigned (Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum [third edition] 801; Hemer 1980, 6–8). The inscription is a rescript of Claudius on the basis of which Gallio’s term as the proconsul of Achaia can be dated: its beginning can thus be assigned the date of July 1, 51 (Riesner 1998, 203–207). It seems, however, that Gallio did not serve the full year of office, but rather left Corinth earlier for reasons of health (Seneca, Moral Epistles 104.1), possibly even before the end of shipping on the Mediterranean in October 51.

Paul in Ephesus

According to Acts 19:23–40, during Paul’s extended stay in Ephesus, the capital of the province of Asia Minor, disturbances took place, ignited by the local silversmiths. Perhaps also in the background was the discontent of the Ephesians over an edict of the governor Paullus Fabius Persicus in the year 44 (Weiss 2009a) censuring the administration of funds at the temple of Artemis (I. Ephesos 17–19). While Luke normally refers to proconsuls by name, in Acts 19:38 he uses the undefined plural anthypatoi. This could be an indication of the confusion that prevailed in Ephesus after the death of Claudius (October 13, 54). After his death, Agrippina, his wife and the mother of the later emperor Nero, had immediately given orders for the murder of Silanus, proconsul of Asia Minor (Tacitus, Annals 13.1; Dio Cassius, Roman History 61.6.4–5), which occurred at the latest in December 54 or January 55. While the office was vacant, administration fell into the hands of three deputies; a number of scholars see this as the reason for Luke’s use of the generalizing plural (Bruce 1990, 421).

Of relevance for Pauline chronology, and especially for the order of some of the letters (Philippians, Philemon, and possibly Colossians) is the question whether or not Paul was imprisoned in Ephesus, as the Marcionite prologue to the letter to the Colossians maintains (Kümmel 1972, 14). In support of such an imprisonment is Paul’s recollection of a life-threatening situation “in Asia” (2 Cor 1:8–10), which could well mean the provincial capital of Ephesus (cf. Acts 20:16). In the letter to the Romans, Paul implies an imprisonment together with Aquila and Priscilla (Rom 16:4, 7), which is perhaps best seen as occurring in Ephesus (cf. 1 Cor 16:19). For these reasons, a good number of scholars favor an imprisonment in Ephesus (Trebilco 2004, 83–87). Luke, whose report on Ephesus is both detailed and suggestive, may have passed over this imprisonment out of consideration for the Asiarchs who were “friendly” to Paul (Acts 19:30–31; Riesner 1998, 214–216). According to Acts 20:17–18, Paul avoided a later visit to Ephesus, presumably because he risked arrest there. Second Corinthians 11:23–25 show that Luke by no means reported all of the dangers faced by the apostle.

The Last Journey to Jerusalem

Acts 20:6–21:15 describe, partly in the form of a “we”-narrative, a seven-week trip by Paul from Philippi to Jerusalem in order to celebrate Pentecost there. Apparently, the apostle left Philippi immediately after the end of the Christian Passover celebration (“after the days of Unleavened Bread” [Acts 20:6]). The reference to the “first day of the week” in Troas (Acts 20:7) must mean a Sunday (cf. Luke 24:1). Since Luke reckons a day from sunrise to sunrise (Acts 4:3–5; 10:3–23, etc.), the Christian assembly he describes took place on Sunday, not Saturday, evening, and the subsequent departure on Monday morning (Marshall 1980, 325–326). Since Paul remained for seven days (reckoned inclusively) in Troas (Acts 20:6), he must have arrived there on Tuesday of the previous week. If we subtract the five days of travel from Philippi (Acts 20:6), we arrive at a Friday as the departure date, so that the Passover began and ended on a Thursday. Between 52 and 60, it is very probable that Nisan 14 fell on a Thursday only on April 7, 57 (Goldstine 1973, 88–89).

When Paul was arrested in the temple courtyard, the Roman tribune thought it possible that he might be a certain “Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness” (Acts 21:38). According to Josephus, this uprising took place after the death of Claudius in October 54 (Jewish War 2.261–263; Jewish Antiquities 20.167–172). Because the leader, an Egyptian Jew, had escaped (Jewish Antiquities 20.171–172), a repeat of the rebellion was feared. Since the disturbance followed a series of actions taken by Nero (20.158–164), the event can be dated no earlier than 55. It is possible that the rebellion took place during the Passover festival of 56, due to apocalyptic expectations raised by the Sabbath year 55/56 (Wacholder 1975, 216).

The Change in Governorship from Felix to Festus

Paul was a prisoner under both the Roman procurators Felix and Festus in Jerusalem and Caesarea. According to Acts 24:10, Felix had already occupied this office “for many years,” and in reality he probably entered office first in 49, not 52 (Schwartz 1992, 223–236). After his dismissal, Felix was protected from more severe punishment by his brother Pallas (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities