Life giving resources. Faithfully delivered.
FREE delivery on orders over £10
Serving over 2 million Christians in the UK
with Bibles, Books and Church Supplies
Our Buy-Now-Pay-Later accounts used
by over 4,000 UK Churches & Schools
Excellent 4.8 out of 5

Trustpilot

You now have 0 of this item in your basket

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

[Hardback]

by James C. Hanges

Author
James C. Hanges
Book Format
Hardcover
Publisher
Mohr Siebeck
Published
December 2012

Read full description

Click to expand

Today's Price

£151.20

Free UK Delivery

Out of stock.

Buying for a school or church? Upgrade to a FREE Eden Advance Account

Enter the product quantity

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

Today's Price £151.20

Frequently Bought Together

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

Thank God for Football!

by Peter Lupson

Paperback

Add both to basket for £161.54 and save £17.94

Product Description

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.