Course Code: BBN08 & BBN09

Jesus Tradition in Paul and Pauline Circle

Eng. & Regional – BBN08 / Greek – BBN09

(Exegetical Study of Selected Texts)

BD IV, Semester II, 4 Credit Hours, Senate Paper

Course Objectives

1. To understand the plural (Greco-Roman-Jewish-early Christian) world of Paul and his life and works.
2. To reconstruct an outline of Paul’s life and ministry.
3. To be acquainted with the Pauline tradition and its writings in early Christianity.
4. To explore the creative interpretation of the Jesus movement particularly in developing the tradition of Jesus Movement for the mission and ministry of the early church.
5. Responsible and relevant use of Pauline tradition in preaching and teaching in the light of present day contexts.

Course Requirements

Final Examination 100%

Course Outline

1. Sources for the Study of the Pauline Tradition
   • Paul’s biographical details in his letters
   • Portrait of Paul in Acts of the Apostles
   • References of Paul in other New Testament letters
   • Apocryphal texts: The Acts of Paul and Thecla
2. The pluriform, polyglot world of Paul
   • The heterodox Jewish world (Judaisms)
   • The Hellenistic and religious mystery world
   • The Roman world
   • The early Christian (pre-Pauline) world
3. Paul: Life and Works
   • Paul’s life at Tarsus, Jerusalem; education in Pharisaic Jewish tradition; the persecution of Christians
   • The ‘conversion’ of Paul – the Damascus road experience as a transformation and call to become an apostle to the Gentiles
   • The chronology of Paul’s life and ministry according to Acts and his letters
   • Pauline mission—preparation, acquaintance with the theology of Stephenites and Hellenists, travels, missionary strategies; opponents: both the Jewish cultural nationalists and the rival Jewish-Christian missionaries (Jewish-Christian cultural nationalist missionaries), theology of the opponents, persecution, arrests, trials and death
   • Writings of Paul and the Pauline circle
   • Paul as a creative interpreter of the Jesus Movement to both Jews and Gentiles
   • Pauline communities: the first urban Christians
   • Paul’s self-understanding as an apostle, missionary and pastor
   • Interpreting Paul contextually: Paul a product of his time
4. Jesus Movement in the Pauline Tradition
   • Paul—a Follower of Jesus or the Founder of Christianity? A survey of critical scholarship from E.C. Baur to E.P. Sanders: the old and new perspectives on Paul
   • The Hellenistic Christian Paul: the old perspective on Paul
   • The Jewish-Christian Paul: the new perspective on Paul
   • Paul beyond the Hellenism/Judaism divide
   • Paul, an advocate of the ekklesial space of emancipation
5. Creative use of Jesus Movement in Pauline Theology
   • Paul and the person and work of Jesus Christ (Christology)
   • Pauline understanding of salvation (sin, justification, grace, sanctification)
   • Pauline understanding of the messianic age (eschatology)
   • Pauline understanding of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology)
   • Pauline understanding of human person (anthropology)
   • Pauline understanding of mission to the Jews and Gentiles (missiology)
   • Pauline understanding of church (ecclesiology)
   • Pauline use of the Last Supper tradition (sacraments)
   • Pauline ethics
   • New Creation/New Humanity vision of Paul
   • Pauline use of Scripture (Pauline hermeneutics)
6. Contemporary Relevance of Paul
   • Paul and women (I Cor. 11:2-16)
   • Paul and empire and state (Rom. 13)
   • Paul and slavery (Philemon)
   • Paul and culture
   • Paul and poverty
   • Pauline understanding of economic mutualism (I Cor. 16; II Cor. 8-9)
   • Paul and Jewish-Christian cultural nationalism (Galatians and II Cor. 10-13)
   • Pauline and ecology (Rom. 8)
7. Texts for Exegesis (English)
   1. Rom. 3:9-31; 5:1-21; 11:1-12
   2. I Cor. 1:18-31; 10:1-13; 14:26-33; 15:20-28
   3. II Cor. 4:7-18; 5:16-21
   4. Gal. 3:15-27
   5. I Thess. 4:13-18
   6. Eph. 2:11-22
   7. Phil. 2:1-11; Col. 1:15-20
   8. I Tim. 3:1-16
8. Texts for Translation and Exegesis (Greek)
   1. Rom. 5:1-21
   2. I Cor. 14:26-33; 15:20-28
   3. II Cor. 5:16-21
   4. Gal. 3:15-27
   5. I Thess. 4:13-18
   6. Eph. 2:11-22
   7. Phil. 2:1-11
   8. Col. 1:15-20

Bibliography

• Abraham, M.V., Theology of St. Paul, Tiruvalla: CSS Books, 2007
• Ariarajah, Wesley, Did I Betray the Gospel?, Geneva: WCC Publications, 1996
• Banks, P., Paul’s Ideas of Community: The Early House Churches, Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994
• Barclay, John M.G., “Universalism and Particularism: Twin Components of Both Judaism and Early Christianity,” in A Vision for the Church: Studies in Earliest Christian Ecclesiology, ed. Bockmuehl and Thompson, Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1997
• Barrett, C.K., First Epistle to the Corinthians, New York: Harper & Row, 1968
• Barrett, C.K., Paul: An Introduction to His Thought, Louisville: WJK Press, 1994
• Barrett, C.K., On Paul: Essays on His Life, Work and Influence in the Early Church, New York: T & T Clark, 2003
• Barton, S.C., “The Communal Dimension of Earliest Christianity: A Critical Survey of the Field,” Journal of Theological Studies 43 (1992): 399-427
• Beker, J.C., Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980
• Beeker, L., Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles</em >, Louisville: WJK Press, 1993
• Bird, Michael, Jesus and the Origins of the Gentile Mission, London: T&T Clark, 2006
• Bornkamm, G., Paul, New York: Harper and Row, 1969
• Boyarin, D., A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994
• Brown, Raymond E., An Introduction to the New Testament, Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 2000
• Bruce, F.F., The Epistle to the Galatians, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982
• Bruce, F.F., 1 and 2 Corinthians, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980
• Bruce, F.F., The Apostle of the Free Spirit, Carlisle: The Paternoster Press, 1980
• Caird, G.B., Paul’s Letters from Prison, Oxford: OUP, 1976
• Chae, Daniel Jong-Sang, Paul as Apostle to the Gentiles: His Apostolic Self-Awareness and Its Influence On the Soteriological Arguments in Romans, Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1997
• Chilton, Bruce and Evans, eds., The Missions of James, Peter and Paul: Tensions in Early Christianity, Leiden: Brill, 2005
• Dahl, W.A., Studies in Paul, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1977
• Cranfield, C.E.B., Romans: A Shorter Commentary, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1985
• Donfried, K.P. and I.H. Marshall, The Theology of the Shorter Pauline Letters, Cambridge: CUP, 1993
• Dunn, J.D.G., The Theology of Paul, the Apostle, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998
• Dunn, J.D.G., A Cambridge Companion to St. Paul, Cambridge: CUP, 2003
• Dunn, J.D.G., Romans, Texas: WBC, Waco, n.d.
• Elliott, Neil, Liberating Paul: The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle, New York: Orbis, 1994
• Engberg-Pederson, Troels, Paul and the Stoics, Louisville: WJK Press, 2000
• Engberg-Pederson, Troels, ed., Paul Beyond the Judaism/Hellenism Divide, Louisville: WJK Press, 2001
• Engberg-Pederson, Troels, Cosmology and Self in Paul, Louisville: WJK Press, 2013
• Esler, Philip F., The First Christians in their Social World: Social-Scientific Approaches to New Testament Interpretation, London: Routledge, 1994
• Esler, Philip F., Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul’s Letter, Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003
• Evans, C.A. and J.A. Sanders, eds., Paul and the Scriptures of Israel, Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993
• Fee, G.D., The First Epistles to the Corinthians, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987
• Fee, G.D., God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul, Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994
• Fiorenza, E.S., In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction, New York: Cross Roads, 1983
• Fitzmyer, Joseph A., “Paul,” in The New Jerome Bible Commentary, Bangalore: Theological Publications in India, 1994, pp. 1329-1337, 1382-1416
• Furnish, V.P., Theology and Ethics in Paul, Nashville: Abingdon, 1968
• Furnish, V.P., The Moral Teaching of Paul: Selected Issues, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1985
• Gaventa, B., From Darkness to Light: Aspects of Conversion, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986
• Gaventa, B., Our Mother, St. Paul, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007
• George, Roji T., “A Postcolonial Mooring of Paul’s Gospel of Universal Salvation in Rom 3:21-31,” Mar Thoma Seminary Journal of Theology 3.1, 2014, pp. 38-61
• George, Roji T., “Paul’s Vision for the Ekklesia of God,” in Ekklesia: Indian Conversations, ed. Samuel George, H. Joseph Lalfakmawia and Ajungla Jamir (Visakhapatnam: MCT Pustakaalayam, 2014), 88-117
• George, Roji T., “Divine Grace in the Making of Paul, the Yesu Bhakta: Reclaiming the Role of Grace in the Self-Consciousness of Paul as a Bhakta in the Light of St. Tukaram’s Bhakti Thought,” Bangalore Theological Forum 45.1, 2013, pp. 74-96
• George, Roji T., “The Early Christian Ambivalent Posture in the Context of Jewish Internal Colonization,” New Life Theological Journal 3.1, 2013, pp. 54-71
• George, Roji T., “Body Politics of Paul in Corinth: Temple and the Rules of Purity in Constructing Identity in 1 Cor. 5:9-13,” Bible Bhashyam 37.1, 2011, pp. 74-99
• Goulder, Michael, A Tale of Two Missions, London: SCM Press, 1994
• Goulder, Michael, Paul and the Competing Mission in Corinth, Peabody: Hendrickson, 2001
• Haldar, Dipankar, Jesus Tradition in Paul, Raghabpur-West Bengal: Raghabpur Seva Niketan, 2012, 2014
• Hanson, A.T., The Paradox of the Cross in the Thought of St. Paul, Sheffield, 1987
• Hawthorne, G.V., et al., eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1993
• Hays, R.B., Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989
• Hays, R.B., The Moral Vision of the New Testament, New Haven: Yale University Press, n.d.
• Hengel, Martin, Between Jesus and Paul: Studies in the Earliest History of Christianity, Translated by John Bowden, Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2003, 1983
• Hengel, Martin, The “Hellenization” of Judaea in the First Century after Christ, Translated by John Bowden, London: SCM Press, 1989
• Hengel, Martin, The Pre-Christian Paul, London: SCM Press, 1991
• Hill, C.C., Hellenists and Hebrews, Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992
• Holmberg, B., Paul and Power, Lund: Gleerup, 1978
• Horsley, Richard, ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society, Harrisburg, PA: Trinity International, 1997
• Hudson, D.F., Life and Letters of St. Paul, Reprint. Indian Theological Library, 1989
• Joseph, M.J., Explorations into Paul, Kottayam: Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, 1986
• Käsemann, E., Perspectives on Paul, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969
• Käsemann, E., Commentary on Romans, Exeter: Paternoster, 1982
• Keener, Kraig S., Paul, Women & Wives: Marriage and Women’s Ministry in the Letters of Paul, Hendrickson, 1992
• Kim, Seyoon, The Origin of Paul’s Gospel, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
• Kim, Seyoon, Paul and the New Perspective: Second Thoughts on the Origin of Paul’s Gospel, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002
• Lentz Jr., John Elayton, Luke’s Portrait of Paul, Cambridge: CUP, 1993
• Levine, Amy-Jill, Feminist Companion to Paul, Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2004
• Lincoln, A.T. and A.J.M. Wedderburn, The Theology of the Later Pauline Letters, Cambridge: CUP, 1993
• Malina, Bruce and John Pilch, Social-Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul, Augsburg: Fortress, 2006
• Marshall, L.H., 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983
• Martin, P.P., Philippians, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976
• Martin, P.P., Colossians and Philemon, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
• Martin, P.P., Reconciliation: A Study of Paul’s Theology, Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 1989
• Meeks, W.A., The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983
• Meggitt, Justin, Paul, Poverty and Survival, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998
• Meyers, Ben, The Early Christians: Their World Mission and Self-Discovery, Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier Inc., 1986
• Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome, Paul: A Critical Life, Oxford: OUP, 1996
• Philip, Finny, The Origins of Pauline Pneumatology: The Eschatological Bestowal of the Spirit upon Gentiles in Judaism and the Early Development of Paul’s Theology, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005
• Porter, Stanley & C. Land (eds.), Paul and His Social Relations, Leiden: Brill, 2003
• Reisner, R., Paul’s Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998
• Ridderbos, H., Paul: An Outline of His Theology, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975
• Samuel, Simon, “Early Christian Mission Practice,” Doon Theological Journal 4/1 (1995): 5-21
• P.V. Joseph, ed., Remapping Mission Discourse: A Festschrift in Honour of the Rev. George Kuruvila Chavanikamannil, Dehradun: NTC Publications/ISPCK, 2008
• Sanders, E.P., Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983
• Sanders, E.P., Paul, the Law and the Jewish People, Philadelphia, 1983
• Schatzmann, S .A., A Pauline Theology of Charismata, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1989
• Schnabel, Eckhard J., Early Christian Mission: Jesus and the Twelve. Vol. I & Paul and the Early Church: Vol. II, German, 2002; Illinois: IVP, 2004
• Schreiner, Thomas R., Paul Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology, Secunderabad: OM Books, 2001
• Segal, Alan F., Paul the Convert: The Apostate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990
• Smyth, B.T., Paul: Mystic and Missionary, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1980
• Sobanaraj, S., Diversity in Paul’s Eschatology: Paul’s View on the Parousia and Bodily Resurrection, New Delhi: ISPCK, 2007
• Stuhl, Todd, and David Holler, eds., After the First Urban Christians: The Social-Scientific Study of Pauline Christianity Twenty-Five Years Later, New York: T&T Clark, 2010
• Stowers, S.K., A Reading of Romans: Justice, Jews and Gentiles, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994
• Theissen, Gerd, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity: Essays on Corinth, Edited and Translated by John H. Schutz, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982
• Thekkekara, M., The Letters of St. Paul; The Face of Early Christianity, Bangalore: Kristo Jyoti Publication, 1997
• Tunchapbo, Jesus Tradition in Paul and Pauline Circle
• Varghese, E., Pauline Theology: An Introduction, English Edition, Adoor: el-Sholom Publishers, 2011
• Varghese, B., Pauline Theology: An Introduction, Malayalam Edition, Adoor: el-Sholom Publishers, 2014
• Varghese, C. Kunjappan, “Righteousness of God in Paul and its Relationship to Justification,” Kerala Theological Journal 1/6 (Feb, 2014): 4-20
• Wallace, R., and Wynne W., The Three Worlds of Paul of Tarsus, London: Routledge, 1998
• Walter, N., “Paul and the Early Christian Jesus Tradition,” in Paul and Jesus: Collected Essays, Edited by Wedderburn, Sheffield: SAP, 1989
• Watson, F., Paul, Judaism and the Gentiles: A Sociological Approach, Cambridge: CUP, 1986
• Wedderburn, A.I.J.A., ed., Paul and Jesus: Collected Essays, Sheffield: SAP, 1989
• Wenham, David, Paul: The Follower or the Second Founder of Christianity?, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004
• Whiteley, D.E.H., Theology of St. Paul, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1972
• Wire, Antoinette Clark, The Corinthian Women Prophets: A Reconstruction through Pauline Rhetoric, Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995
• Witherington, B., Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995
• Witherington, B., The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus, Leicester: IVP, 1998
• Wright, N.T., What Saint Paul Really Said? Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997
• Wright, N.T., The Climax of the Covenant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1991
• Zangenberg, Jürgen and Michael Labahn, eds., Christians as a Religious Minority in a Multicultural City: Modes of Interaction and Identity Formation in Early Imperial Rome, London: T&T Clark International, 2008