Paul and Politics

Interpretation of Paul has long been dominated by Lutheran/Protestant theological concerns. Paul has been treated as primarily concerned with narrowly personal religious issues, and critics have often contended that Paul was a conservative regarding social issues. The contributors to this volume deal in original and provocative fashion with several interrelated issues running through Paul’s letters and their subsequent interpretation in Christian history. The essays cover several interrelated topics concerning Paul and politics: Paul and the politics of interpretation; Paul and the politics of the Roman Empire; Paul and the politics of Israel (relations of Jews and Gentiles); Paul and the politics of the churches (relations of women and men, slaves and free). Contributors include: Krister Stendahl (Harvard Divinity School); Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (Harvard Divinity School); Richard A. Horsley (University of Massachusetts, Boston); Alan Segal (Barnard College); Antoinette C. Wire (San Francisco Theological Seminary); N. T. Wright (Westminster Cathedral); Sheila Briggs (University of Southern California); Cynthia Briggs Kittredge (Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest); Pamela Eisenbaum (Iliff School of Theology); Mark Nanos (Lees Summit, Missouri); Allen Callahan (Harvard Divinity School); Sze-kar Wan (Andover Newton Theological School); Robert Jewett (Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary); and Neil Elliott (Seabury Western). Richard A. Horsley is Professor of Classics and Religion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and is the author of numerous books including Galilee: History, Politics, and People (Trinity Press).