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Paul, Founder of Churches: A Study in Light of the Evidence for the Role of Founder-Figures in the Hellenistic-Roman Period

by James C. Hanges

  • Hardback
  • 573 pages
  • Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
  • 16.4 x 24.1 x 2.9 cm

£168.04

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For serious students of the New Testament.

Shows how Paul built churches like a Greek founder.

Deepens your understanding of Paul's bold mission.

Discover how the Apostle Paul adopted ancient Hellenistic traditions to establish early church communities.

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The apostle Paul's understanding of his role and responsibilities in transferring the cult of Jesus Christ to new lands to found new groups devoted to this immigrant son of God is not unique. His modus operandi cannot be adequately explained in terms of Jewish precedents. Rather, Paul's pattern is a creative appropriation of the enduring Greek model of the founder, the key figure in Greek imaginings of the formation of social space, whether colony or cult. Cult foundation inscriptions as well as literary descriptions show that such foundations were laid according to persistent elements of a pattern originating in Greek foundation narratives focused on the oracular selection of the founder-figure and his obedience to a divine impetus for cult innovation. With the help of modern culture studies, especially postcolonial critique, Paul's letters show that he not only appropriated this traditional Greek model and applied it to the foundation of his churches, but creatively adapted it for purposes of group self-definition and his own sensibilities. While Paul uses few technical foundation terms, his reliance on divine visionary endorsement of his transfer of the Christ cult to new places, the way the apostle exercises authority over the communities he has founded, his attempt to integrate his Greek communities into the sacred history of Israel, and the strategies used against him by his opponents reveal his use of the Greek foundational model. Paul shares the discourse and action of contemporary cult founders who, like him, were obeying their deity's call for transferal to a new location.
Paul, Founder of Churches: A Study in Light of the Evidence for the Role of Founder-Figures in the Hellenistic-Roman Period and The Essential History of Christianity
The Essential History of ChristianityPaul, Founder of Churches: A Study in Light of the Evidence for the Role of Founder-Figures in the Hellenistic-Roman Period

  • Title

    Paul, Founder of Churches: A Study in Light of the Evidence for the Role of Founder-Figures in the Hellenistic-Roman Period

  • Author

    James C. Hanges

  • Book Format

    Hardcover

  • Publisher

    Mohr Siebeck

  • Published

    December 2012

  • Weight

    999g

  • Page Count

    573

  • Dimensions

    16.4 x 24.1 x 2.9 cm

  • ISBN

    9783161507168

  • ISBN-10

    3161507169

  • Eden Code

    4894521

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