Paul the spiritual guide : a social identity perspective on Paul's apostolic self-identity
Abstract
Scholarly understanding of Paul's self-conception in his use of the title 'apostle' has
remained minimal throughout the history of biblical scholarship. Few have ventured to
describe Paul's understanding of his apostolic self-identity beyond the basic notion of his
being 'sent' to preach the gospel. The most frequent suggestions are that Paul understood
himself to be a prophet or a philosopher. But these suggestions are faulty because they
emerge from hermeneutical methods that are unable to discern how self-identity is
revealed in discourse. The purpose of this thesis is two-fold. First, I attempt to clarify
Paul's understanding of his apostolic self-identity. My research reveals that when Paul
identified himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ to the Thessalonians and Corinthians he
conceived of that identity within the conceptual framework of a spiritual guide. Paul
believed that God was calling him to be a spiritual guide to the followers of Jesus in those
cities, leading them from an initial faith in Jesus as Lord to the consummation of that
relationship on the day of Jesus' return, guiding them through all the twists and turns
along the way. Second, in developing this argument, I attempt to clarify a method of
reading ancient texts with insights from the social sciences. I demonstrate that it is not
only possible, but that at times it is necessary to use the social sciences in order to further
our hermeneutical abilities for understanding biblical texts.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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