Paul the Progressive?

C. Smith Eric

Description

A generation of biblical scholars have sparked a revolution in thinking about the apostle Paul. Now, bible scholar and progressive Christian pastor Eric C. Smith is helping Christians see how that revolution makes a difference for people engaged in the work of justice and inclusion. In Paul the Progressive, Smith revisits Paul in light of modern biblical scholarship, telling the story of a Paul who challenged the norms of his day, broke down barriers of gender and ethnicity, and re-imagined God's plan for the world in terms of radical inclusion and salvation available to everyone.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Chalice Press
• Date de parution: 22 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780827231733
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Praise for Paul The Progressive?
“To say this book is full of gems here and there does not suffice. Rather, the entire text sparkles and shines, page to page, start to finish. It dazzles in both its scholarly rigor and pastoral care. Smith manages to pull off a rare feat: He cuts the biblical material with his exegetical incisiveness even while he comforts with his pastoral tenderness those marginalized and excluded by many in the church. Whether you hate Paul, or (like me) like him but only conditionally, this is your next book. Let Smith reintroduce you to the real Paul, a Paul who is much more authentic and compelling than the deformed one we unfortunately have inherited.”
— José Francisco Morales Torres, Claremont School of Theology
“As an African American biblical scholar, I appreciate Smith’s argument in Paul the Progressive?. Concisely moving through various texts in the Pauline corpus, Smith’s work has wide-reaching implications for those of us who fight for liberation and justice within church and society. As a pastor himself, Smith provides a starting point for other pastors to teach and preach Paul in such a way that perhaps even Nancy Ambrose (Howard Thurman’s grandmother) and other grandmothers like her (including mine) can envision a conversation around Pauline texts that do not delegitimize the humanity of formerly enslaved persons, women, and non-Jewish Christians, even as we seek to live lives that expand our contemporary views of Christianity.”
— Angela Parker, McAfee School of Theology
“I have to admit that the apostle Paul has become one of my least favorite people in the Bible. Whereas I have seen Jesus as a figure that embodied ethical and social progress, my reading of Paul led me to believe that the apostle, in many ways, was regressive, and his writings have been used to marginalize and justify harm against so many people. However, in Paul the Progressive?, Dr. Eric Smith has presented a groundbreaking work that is both scholarly and accessible and that helps us to reframe our understanding of the teachings of Paul in order to see him as an agent of progress and social reformation on the issues that are at the center of our theological and public discourse today. Smith’s work has helped me to begin reconciling my broken relationship with the apostle and has birthed in me a renewed interest in Paul’s writings as tools to inspire and incite positive change in my own life and in my community of faith. If you’re looking to be challenged, intrigued, and inspired, Paul The Progressive? is a must read!”
— Brandan Robertson, pastor of Missiongathering, San Diego, and author of True Inclusion
“I am a firm believer that every worshiping Christian deserves a chance to work out their faith in ways that make sense to them. We all need resources that are accessible and informative to get there. Eric C. Smith has done that on a subject much debated in Christian communities for ages: what do we make of Paul? If you have ever deliberated over whether Paul distorted or enhanced the core message of Jesus, you should add this book to your library. Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, you will appreciate his scholarship, find his writing style engaging, and be grateful for what he has added to a critical and ongoing debate in the life of the Church.”
— John C. Dorhauer General Minister and President, United Church of Christ


Dedication
Dedicated to the people of
Biltmore United Methodist Church, Asheville, North Carolina
First Plymouth Congregational Church, Englewood, Colorado


Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by Eric C. Smith.
All rights reserved. For permission to reuse content, please contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], www.copyright.com .
Bible quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Those quotations marked RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible , copyright 1952, [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked Good News are taken from the Today’s English Version —Second Edition (aka The Good News Bible ) © ١٩٩٢ by American Bible Society. Used by Permission. Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are taken from the Contemporary English Version . Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission. Scripture quotations marked CEB in this publication are from the Common English Bible. © Copyright 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture marked NASB is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission. Quotations marked Message are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright (c) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Quotations marked ESV are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. Quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NLV are taken from the New Life Version, copyright © 1969 and 2003. Used by permission of Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683. All rights reserved. Quotations marked ASV are from the American Standard Version. Quotations marked NET are from NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com . All rights reserved.
Cover art: Medallion with Saint Paul from an Icon Frame, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Cover design: Jesse Turri
ChalicePress.com
Print: 9780827231726 EPUB: 9780827231733 EPDF: 9780827231740


Contents


Praise for Paul The Progressive?
Dedication
Copyright
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Hating Paul (An Introduction)
Chapter 2: Paul the Misogynist
Chapter 3: Paul the Homophobe
Chapter 4: Paul the Anti-Semite
Chapter 5: Paul the Prude
Chapter 6: Paul the Slavery Apologist
Chapter 7: Paul the Xenophobe
Chapter 8: Paul the Debt and Guilt Monger
Chapter 9: Paul the Hijacker (A Conclusion)
Bibliography
About the Author


Preface
If you ask progressive Christians about the Christian tradition, they will usually point to two moments where things went off the rails: the reign of the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, and the career and writings of the apostle Paul in the first century. In both cases, progressive Christians will often talk wistfully about an otherwise-pure tradition that was sidetracked or co-opted. Constantine, the thinking goes, married the church to the state and sold out theology to imperial ideology. Paul, meanwhile, took the beautiful tradition Jesus left behind and turned it into an anti-woman, anti-gay, pro-slavery, anti-sex system of guilt and shame. If it had not been for those two moments, my fellow progressive Christians say, Christianity would be much better off today.
Those charges are a little bit unfair to Constantine (though that’s a matter for another book), but Paul definitely does not deserve all the hate. After years of studying Paul within the academic field of biblical studies, I have come to see him as one of the most misunderstood figures of the Bible and the Christian tradition. And after years of preaching Paul in progressive Christian congregations, I have found that if he is read in light of modern biblical scholarship, we can legitimately understand Paul as an ally rather than an enemy. So much of what we think we know about Paul is wrong, and so much of what we don’t know about Paul shows the apostle to be far more right than we imagined. On a litany of charges—misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, prudishness, slavery apologetics, and oppressive theology—Paul’s reputation has much more to do with centuries of bad interpretation than it does with Paul himself. Some of the worst things attributed to Paul are found in books that many scholars now believe he didn’t actually write. Some of Paul’s authentic writings have been taken out of context and had their meanings twisted. The Paul so many of us have hated isn’t the Jesus-following Jewish Paul of the first century, but the Paul of Reformation-era figures such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. Peel back these layers of misunderstanding and bad interpretation, and a new Paul starts to emerge—or, actually, a very old Paul starts to reassert himself.
Not only have we wrongly considered Paul an enemy, but we have also missed out on an ally. The Paul that is revealed in careful study of his letters is nothing like the person so many progressive Christians hate, and, in fact, he shares many progressive Christian values. He’s passionate about justice, honesty, reconciliation across difference, and inclusion most of all. He gets angry and indignant when people pridefully put themselves above others. He intervenes on behalf of those with less power, recognizes the leadership of women, and believes in a God who has thrown open the doors to welcome everyone in. At tim