The Self, the Lord, and the Other according to Paul and Epictetus

The Self, the Lord, and the Other according to Paul and Epictetus PDF Author: Michael J. Gorman
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666795313
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 541

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Book Description
This study explores the relationship between the individual person (the self), the divine, and other people in the writings of the apostle Paul and the Roman Stoic Epictetus. It does so by examining self-involving actions expressed with reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, etc.) in various kinds of sentences: for example, “Examine yourself” and “You do not belong to yourself.” After situating the topic within the fields of linguistics and ancient Greek, the study then examines the reflexive constructions in Epictetus’s Discourses, showing that reflexive texts express fundamental aspects of his ethic of rational self-interest in imitation of the indwelling rational deity. Next, the investigation examines the 109 reflexive constructions in Paul, providing an exegesis of each reflexive text and then synthesizing the results. Paul’s reflexive phrases are essential statements of his theology and ethics, expressing an interconnected narrative Christology, narrative apostolic identity, and narrative ethic. Most importantly, the study finds that for Epictetus, concern for others is a rational means to self-realization, whereas for Paul, concern for others is a community ethic grounded in the story of the indwelling Christ and is the antithesis of self-interest.

The Self, the Lord, and the Other according to Paul and Epictetus

The Self, the Lord, and the Other according to Paul and Epictetus PDF Author: Michael J. Gorman
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666795313
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 541

Get Book

Book Description
This study explores the relationship between the individual person (the self), the divine, and other people in the writings of the apostle Paul and the Roman Stoic Epictetus. It does so by examining self-involving actions expressed with reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, etc.) in various kinds of sentences: for example, “Examine yourself” and “You do not belong to yourself.” After situating the topic within the fields of linguistics and ancient Greek, the study then examines the reflexive constructions in Epictetus’s Discourses, showing that reflexive texts express fundamental aspects of his ethic of rational self-interest in imitation of the indwelling rational deity. Next, the investigation examines the 109 reflexive constructions in Paul, providing an exegesis of each reflexive text and then synthesizing the results. Paul’s reflexive phrases are essential statements of his theology and ethics, expressing an interconnected narrative Christology, narrative apostolic identity, and narrative ethic. Most importantly, the study finds that for Epictetus, concern for others is a rational means to self-realization, whereas for Paul, concern for others is a community ethic grounded in the story of the indwelling Christ and is the antithesis of self-interest.

The Self, the Lord, and the Other according to Paul and Epictetus

The Self, the Lord, and the Other according to Paul and Epictetus PDF Author: Michael J. Gorman
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666795291
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
This study explores the relationship between the individual person (the self), the divine, and other people in the writings of the apostle Paul and the Roman Stoic Epictetus. It does so by examining self-involving actions expressed with reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, etc.) in various kinds of sentences: for example, "Examine yourself" and "You do not belong to yourself." After situating the topic within the fields of linguistics and ancient Greek, the study then examines the reflexive constructions in Epictetus's Discourses, showing that reflexive texts express fundamental aspects of his ethic of rational self-interest in imitation of the indwelling rational deity. Next, the investigation examines the 109 reflexive constructions in Paul, providing an exegesis of each reflexive text and then synthesizing the results. Paul's reflexive phrases are essential statements of his theology and ethics, expressing an interconnected narrative Christology, narrative apostolic identity, and narrative ethic. Most importantly, the study finds that for Epictetus, concern for others is a rational means to self-realization, whereas for Paul, concern for others is a community ethic grounded in the story of the indwelling Christ and is the antithesis of self-interest.

Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul

Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul PDF Author: Troels Engberg-Pedersen
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 0199558566
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
This text presents an innovative challenge to the traditional reading of Paul. Troels Engberg-Pedersen argues that the usual mainly cognitive and metaphorical ways of understanding central Pauline concepts must be supplemented by a literal understanding that directly reflects Paul's materialist cosmology.

Cruciformity

Cruciformity PDF Author: Michael J. Gorman
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467460796
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
When it was first published in 2001, Cruciformity broke new ground with a vision of Pauline spirituality that illuminated what it meant to be a person or community in Christ. Beginning with Paul’s express desire to “know nothing but Christ crucified,” Gorman showed how true spirituality is telling the story, in both life and words, of God’s self-revelation in Jesus, so that we might practice “cruciformity”—the impossible possibility of conformity to the crucified Christ. Two decades later, Gorman’s seminal work is still a powerful model for combining biblical studies and theological reflection to make Paul’s letters more immediately relevant to contemporary Christian life. This twentieth-anniversary edition includes a new foreword by Nijay Gupta—a next-generation Pauline scholar heavily influenced by Gorman—as well as an afterword by the author, in which he reflects on the legacy of Cruciformity in the church and the academy, including his own subsequent work in Pauline theology.

Paul and the Giants of Philosophy

Paul and the Giants of Philosophy PDF Author: Joseph R. Dodson
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 083087366X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Biblical Foundations Award Finalist What forces shaped the intellectual world of the apostle Paul? How familiar was he with the great philosophers of his age, and to what extent was he influenced by them? When he quoted Greco-Roman sources, what was his aim? Pauline scholars wrestle with such questions in journal articles and technical monographs, but now Paul and the Giants of Philosophy brings the conversation into the college classroom and the church. Each essay addresses Paul's interaction with Greco-Roman philosophical thinking on a particular topic, such as faith, slavery, gift-giving, and the afterlife. And each chapter includes discussion questions and reading lists to help readers engage the material further. Dodson and Briones have gathered contributors with diverse views from various traditions who are united in the desire to make Paul's engagement with ancient philosophy accessible to many readers.

Transforming Boasting of Self into Boasting in the Lord

Transforming Boasting of Self into Boasting in the Lord PDF Author: Marcin Kowalski
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 0761861246
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
This book uses rhetorical analysis to illuminate one of the most fascinating and complicated speeches by Saint Paul: 2 Cor 10–13. The main problem of the speech regards Paul’s claim to be a true servant of Christ and to have the right to boast about it. Paul proves he is strong enough to be the leader of Corinth and paradoxically demonstrates that weakness should belong to the identity of an apostle. Another issue regards the legitimacy of his boasting. The egocentric boast based on the comparison with his opponents is the one that Paul calls foolish, but he is forced, nevertheless, to undertake it. The tool that ultimately enables him to transform self-aggrandizing speech into speech that is focused on Christ is his paradoxical boasting of weakness. The careful crafting of his discourse based on Christological principles ultimately speaks for qualifying it as a self-praise speech (periautologia) with a pedagogical, not defensive, purpose.

God, Freedom and Human Dignity

God, Freedom and Human Dignity PDF Author: Ron Highfield
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830864504
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Does God's all-encompassing will restrict our freedom? Does God's ownership and mastery over us diminish our dignity? The fear that God is a threat to our freedom and dignity goes far back in Western thought. Such suspicion remains with us today in our so-called secular society. In such a context any talk of God tends to provoke responses that range from defiance to subservience to indifference. How did Western culture come to this place? What impact does this social and intellectual environment have on those who claim to believe in God or more specifically in the Christian God of the Bible? Professor of religion Ron Highfield traces out the development of Western thought that has led us our current frame of mind from Plato, Augustine and Descartes through Locke, Kant, Blake Bentham, Hegel, Nietzsche--all the way down to Charles Taylor's landmark work Sources of the Self. At the heart of the issue is the modern notion of the autonomous self and the inevitable crisis it provokes for a view of human identity, freedom and dignity found in God. Can the modern self really secure its own freedom, dignity and happiness? What alternative do we have? Highfield makes pertinent use of trinitarian theology to show how genuine Christian faith responds to this challenge by directing us to a God who is not in competition with his human creations, but rather who provides us with what we seek but could never give ourselves. God, Freedom and Human Dignity is essential reading for Christian students who are interested in the debates around secularism, modernity and identity formation.

Reading Revelation Responsibly

Reading Revelation Responsibly PDF Author: Michael J. Gorman
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1606085603
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
This volume deals with the varied forms of shame reflected in biblical, theological, psychological and anthropological sources. Although traditional theology and church practice concentrate on providing forgiveness for shameful behavior, recent scholarship has discovered the crucial relevance of social shame evoked by mental status, adversity, slavery, abuse, illness, grief and defeat. Anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists have discovered that unresolved social shame is related to racial and social prejudice, to bullying, crime, genocide, narcissism, post-traumatic stress and other forms of toxic behavior. Eleven leaders in this research participated in a conference on The Shame Factor, sponsored by St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Lincoln, NE in October 2010. Their essays explore the impact and the transformation of shame in a variety of arenas, comprising in this volume a unique and innovative resource for contemporary religion, therapy, ethics, and social analysis.

Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire

Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire PDF Author: Niko Huttunen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004428240
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
In Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire: Mutual Recognition Niko Huttunen challenges the interpretation of early Christian texts as anti-imperial documents. He presents examples of the positive relationship between early Christians and the Roman society. With the concept of “recognition” Huttunen describes a situation in which the parties can come to terms with each other without full agreement. Huttunen provides examples of non-Christian philosophers recognizing early Christians. He claims that recognition was a response to Christians who presented themselves as philosophers. Huttunen reads Romans 13 as a part of the ancient tradition of the law of the stronger. His pioneering study on early Christian soldiers uncovers the practical dimension of recognizing the empire.

The Encheiridion Or Manual

The Encheiridion Or Manual PDF Author: Epictetus
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781094774305
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 46

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Book Description
The Enchiridion of Epictetus is a short manual of Stoic ethical advice compiled by Arrian, a 2nd-century disciple of the Greek philosopher Epictetus. Common English translations of the title are Manual or Handbook.