The Political Paul: Democracy and Kingship in Paul's Thought

by Bruno Blumenfeld

Overview

The Political Paul presents Paul as a political thinker. Many studies claiming Paul for Greek Hellenism discuss the influence upon him of various aspects of Hellenistic culture, but strangely neglect Hellenistic political philosophy with its roots in Classical antiquity. The Political Paul explores this dimension of PaulÆs thought within the general context of Hellenistic political reflection to focus on the intriguing body of literature known as the Pythagorean pseudepigrapha. These researches support the highly original argument that Christianity has foundations in Hellenistic kingship theories. Paul constructs a political theory for Christianity. He conceives it as a polis-basileia system, politics proper and divine rule, each with its own dikaiosyne; this the study re-evaluates as a political concept.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780567080813
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/08/2004
Series:	The Library of New Testament Studies , #210
Pages:	514
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.03(d)

About the Author

Bruno Blumenfeld is an independent scholar living in New York City.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	7
	Abbreviations	8
	Introduction	11
	Hellenistic Popular Philosophy: The Context for Paul's Thought	13
	The Polis versus the Ideal State	24
	Remarks on Method	25
Part I	Classical and Hellenistic Sources
Chapter 1	Classical Sources: Plato	36
Chapter 2	Classical Sources: Aristotle	45
	Aristotle's Ethics	45
	Aristotle's Politics	64
	Aristotle and Paul: Ekklesia as Polis	84
Chapter 3	Ekklesia, Oikos and Polis in Paul	95
	The Polis at Paul's Time	95
	Paul the Architect	107
	Political Fellowship	109
	Ekklesia, Oikos and Polis	112
Chapter 4	Hellenistic Pythagoreans: The Polis Group	120
	Hellenistic Pythagorean Corpus	120
	Ps.-Archytas: On Law and Justice	124
	Hippodamos: On the Republic	139
	Hippodamos: On Happiness	149
	Callicratidas: On the Happiness of the Household	152
	Ocellus: On Law	158
	Damippos: On Prudence and Fortune	160
	Ps.-Zaleucus: Preambles to the Laws	166
	Ps.-Charondas: Preambles to the Laws	174
	Review of Main Themes	179
Chapter 5	Hellenistic Pythagoreans: The Basileia Group	189
	Writings for Kings	189
	Ps.-Ecphantus: On Kingship	191
	Diotogenes: On Kingship	234
	Sthenidas: On Kingship	254
	Hellenistic Kingship and Paul	264
Part II	The Political Paul
Chapter 6	Rome and Paul	276
Chapter 7	Paul's Politics	288
	The 'Revolutionary Reactionary'	289
	Clues from Philippians	292
Chapter 8	Romans: A Political Reading	302
	Romans 1.1-3.20: Hamartia, or the World As It Is	308
	Romans 3.21-8.39: The World Set Straight	330
	Romans 9.1-11.36: The World at Large and the Reign of God	365
	Romans 12.1-16.23): Upholding the Roman Empire and Making It Last	378
	Excursus: A Note on Moxnes, Winter and Elliott	395
	Summation	411
Chapter 9	Conclusion: A Colloquy on Dikaiosune	415
	Kasemann	422
	Dunn	437
	Stowers	440
	Sampley	445
	Summary	447
	Bibliography	451
	Index of References	479
	Index of Authors	503