Was Paul a Christian?
While the "Jewishness" of Paul has been accentuated in the New Perspective on Paul, in the Radical New Perspective on Paul he is portrayed as remaining within "Judaism" and thus not as a Christian. In the latter approach, Paul's Damascus encounter is perceived to be merely a...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
Published: |
[2019]
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In: |
Neotestamentica
Year: 2019, Volume: 53, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-29 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Paul Apostle
/ Identity
/ Pauline letters
/ Jews
/ Christian
/ Christianity
/ Jewish Christian
/ Linguistic analysis
/ We
/ Repentance
/ Flesh
/ Spirit
/ Law (Theology)
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IxTheo Classification: | BH Judaism CA Christianity HC New Testament |
Further subjects: | B
now language
B in Christ B Jewish Identity B we language / us B Christianity B Spirit B Paul B Conversion B Jewish B Christian B Judaism B Flesh B the law B Jew |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | While the "Jewishness" of Paul has been accentuated in the New Perspective on Paul, in the Radical New Perspective on Paul he is portrayed as remaining within "Judaism" and thus not as a Christian. In the latter approach, Paul's Damascus encounter is perceived to be merely a call and not a conversion. In addition, in scholarship generally, both Judaism and Christianity, as full-scale religious systems, are strictly speaking understood as later developments after the Second Temple period, making it problematic to contend that Paul converted from Judaism to Christianity. This article reconsiders both the definition of Christianity and whether Paul has undergone a change of core identity, which is argued to be foundational to the question whether Paul underwent a conversion or not. An assessment of whether Paul underwent a change of core identity is pursued along four categories: (1) the way in which Paul utilises "now" and "us/we" language in describing the "in-Christ" identity; (2) his use of the concepts of "flesh" and "Spirit" in respect of identity; (3) the way in which Paul describes the "in-Christ" identity relative to the law; and (4) the way in which he refers to Judaeans as outsiders. |
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ISSN: | 2518-4628 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Neotestamentica
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/neo.2019.0007 |