The Pauline Churches A Socio-Historical Study of Institutionalization in the Pauline and Deutrero-Pauline Writings
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 The project
- 2 The social sciences and New Testament interpretation
- 3 Methodological limits and possibilities
- 4 Where from here?
- PART 1 PAUL: COMMUNITY-BUILDING INSTITUTIONALIZATION
- 1 Attitudes to the world/ethics
- 2 Ministry
- 3 Ritual
- 4 Belief
- 5 General conclusion
- PART 2 COLOSSIANS AND EPHESIANS: COMMUNITY-STABILIZING INSTITUTIONALIZATION
- PART 3 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES: COMMUNITY-PROTECTING-INSTITUTIONALIZATION
- CONCLUSION
- Notes
- Biblography
- Index of Biblical passages discussed
- Subject index
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 The project
- 2 The social sciences and New Testament interpretation
- 3 Methodological limits and possibilities
- 4 Where from here?
- PART 1 PAUL: COMMUNITY-BUILDING INSTITUTIONALIZATION
- 1 Attitudes to the world/ethics
- 2 Ministry
- 3 Ritual
- 4 Belief
- 5 General conclusion
- PART 2 COLOSSIANS AND EPHESIANS: COMMUNITY-STABILIZING INSTITUTIONALIZATION
- PART 3 THE PASTORAL EPISTLES: COMMUNITY-PROTECTING-INSTITUTIONALIZATION
- CONCLUSION
- Notes
- Biblography
- Index of Biblical passages discussed
- Subject index
Summary
The following study examines the worship of the Pauline communities. The function of ritual forms in the articulation and the preservation of the sect's identity is considered. The investigation analyses the connection between baptism and the assertion of communal identity. The role of the Lord's supper in the maintenance of boundaries separating the Pauline Christians from outsiders is investigated. The relationship between what is experienced in ritual and the process of symbolization is discussed.
A ritual context
As in the case of ministry structures, there has been a tendency in New Testament scholarship to contrast Paul's attitude to the ‘sacraments’ with the later developments of a more highly structured church. For example, both Bultmann and Käsemann have argued that Paul consciously disavowed himself of the idea that the Lord's supper had the magical effects of the ‘medicine of immortality’ – quoting the well known Ignatian phrase. Similar, though less extreme, comparisons are found in Conzelmann's work:
Paul shows particularly clearly in 1 Cor 10f that the sacrament does not change a man in a mysterious way, but brings him into the historical fellowship of the faithful in the church; it is not a magical protection, but leads to life in community. Of course, it must be granted that ideas from the mysteries appear in the Hellenistic milieu. In Ignatius, the sacramental food has become the ‘ψάρμακον ἀθανασíας’ (medicine of immortality). In that case, the cult no longer serves to establish ‘everyday’ faith in the world, but to mark out a holy realm from the world.
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- The Pauline ChurchesA Socio-Historical Study of Institutionalization in the Pauline and Deutrero-Pauline Writings, pp. 61 - 71Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1988
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