Unity and Diversity in Christ: Interpreting Paul in Context - Collected Essays

The legacy of Pauline scholarship, from ancient to modern, is characterised by a surfeit of unsettled, conflicting conclusions that often fail to interpret Paul in relation to his Jewish roots. William S. Campbell takes a stand against this paradigm, emphasising continuity between Judaism and the Christ-movement in Paul’s letters. Campbell focusses on important themes, such as diversity, identity and reconciliation, as the basic components of transformation in Christ. The stance from which Paul theologises is one that recognises and underpins social and cultural diversity and includes the correlating demand that because difference is integral to the Christ-movement, the enmity associated with difference cannot be tolerated. Thus, reconciliation emerges as a fundamental value in the Christ-movement. Reconciliation, in this sense, respects and does not negate the particularities of the identity of Jews and those from the nations. In this paradigm, transformation implies the re-evaluation of all things in Christ, whether of Jewish or gentile origin.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
1 Trajectories of Conversations with Paul and Others
2 The Contribution of Traditions to Paul’s Theology (1993)
The Need for a Framework of Interpretation
The Cultural Context that Informed Paul’s Experience
The Influence of Scriptural Interpretation in the Formulation of Paul’s Theological Statements
The Interaction between Scriptural Interpretation and Events of Everyday Life
New and Old in Paul’s Theology
The Shape of Paul’s Theology

Conclusion
3 The Rule of Faith in Romans 12:1—15:13 (1995)
Introduction: Interpretive Tendencies in the Understanding of the Letter
The Diatribe Style as an Indirect Witness to What Paul is Not Saying
The Situation of Paul’s Addressees in Romans 12–15
Political Factors
Theological Factors
Social Factors: The Weak and the Strong in First-Century Roman Society
The Identity of the Weak and the Strong in Romans 14–15
The Rule of Faith: Norms for the Believing Community
The Failure of the Romans to Accept One Another: Boasting in Distinction and Ignoring Common Allegiance to Christ
Conclusion: Paul’s Theology of Faith in Romans
4 Divergent Images of Paul and His Mission (2000)
Examples from the Reception of Romans in the Twentieth Century
Paul, Champion of the Gentiles: The Partisan Paul
Continuity Between Romans 3–4 and Romans 9–11
Romans 9 and the “Surprise” Ending to Romans 11
Recontextualizing Paul’s Statements in Romans 9
Divergent Understandings of the Significance of Paul’s Gentile Mission as a Factor in the Roman Context
The Inclusive Paul: The Purpose of God for Jews and also for Gentiles
5 “All God’s Beloved in Rome!”: Jewish Roots and Christian Identity (2004)
Structure and Content in Romans 8:14—11:36
Jewish versus Christian Identity?
Christian Identity and Negative Self-Designation
Diversity in Christian Identity
6 “As Having and as Not Having”: Paul, Circumcision, and Indifferent Things in 1 Corinthians 7:17–32a (2006/7)
Introduction
Transformation in Christ
The Process: The Interaction between Continuity and Transformation Resocialization and Reversal of Values
Circumcision, Transformation, and Christ-Identity
7 Unity and Diversity in the Church: Transformed Identities and the Peace of Christ in Ephesians (2008)
Introduction
Unity is Both a Cause for Celebration and a Process to Be Worked At
The New Anthropos is Not a “Third Entity”
Ephesians Constructs an Alternative Society in Implicit Contrast with Roman Imperialistic Claims
The Reconciliation Advocated Involves Diverse Communities of Christ-Followers
Being in Christ and Israelite Identity are Interdependent in Ephesians
Conclusion
8 The Addressees of Paul’s Letter to the Romans: Assemblies of God in House Churches and Synagogues (2010)
Introductory Issues
Historical Issues and Possible Inferences Arising from These
Interpretative Factors
The Approach Adopted in this Study
Evidence Concerning the Historical Context Prior to Paul’s Writing to the Romans
The Evidence from the Letter Concerning Those Whom Paul Addresses
Evidence Concerning the Addressees within Romans 9–11
The Weak and the Strong in Romans 14:1—15:13
The Collection and the Jerusalem Aspect of Romans
Conclusion
9 “Let us Maintain Peace” (Rom 5:2): Reconciliation and Social Responsibility (2011)
Introduction: Why Focus on Reconciliation in Paul
The Source of Paul’s Imagery of Reconciliation
Locating Reconciliation Language within the Structure of Romans
Inter-Group Conflict among the Roman Christ-Followers
Reconciliation in Practice
Reconciliation and Paul’s Purpose in Romans
Conclusion: The Pursuit of Peace
10 Universality and Particularity in Paul’s Understanding and Strategy of Mission (2011)
Introduction
Commonality in Paul’s Teaching
Common Content across Paul’s Letters
Imitation in Paul
Common Destiny—Conformity with the Image of Christ
Being Linked with Christ for Paul Means Being Inducted into a Jewish Symbolic Universe
Universality and Particularity in First-Century Judaism
Philo
Philo and Paul: Commonality and Difference
The Contextuality of Paul’s Universal Mission—Recognizing the Limits
Conclusion
11 “I Rate All Things as Loss”: Paul’s Puzzling Accounting System: Judaism as Loss or the Re-evaluation of All Things in Christ? (2012)
Introduction
“Remain as you were when called”: Reading 1 Corinthians 7:20 in Context
Circumcision and Glorying in the Flesh (Gal 6:11–16)
“I rate all things as loss”: Philippians 3:8
Re-evaluating All Things in Christ: The Rhetoric of Pauline Comparisons
The Re-evaluation of All Things in Christ: A New Paradigm for Pauline Studies?
Bibliography
Index of Scriptural Passages
Index of Modern Authors