The Church’s Guide for Reading Paul

The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus

Brevard S. Childs

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.

© 2008 Brevard S. Childs

All rights reserved

Published 2008 by

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /

P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Childs, Brevard S.

The church’s guide for reading Paul: the canonical shaping of the Pauline Corpus / Brevard S. Childs.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8028-6278-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul—Criticism, interpretation, etc.

2. Bible. N.T.—Canon. I. Title.

BS2650.52.C45 2008

227′.012—dc22

2008011999

www.eerdmans.com

This volume is dedicated to my brothers and sister:

Dick, Wylie, Anne,

for loving care and unswerving support over a lifetime.

Contents

1. The Search for Paul’s Theology

I. Recent Historical Attempts

II. The Pauline Corpus

III. The Hermeneutical Problem of Interpreting the Corpus

IV. Historical Criticism and Canonical Context

1. Elements of Continuity

2. Elements of Discontinuity

V. The Role of a Text’s Background

VI. Criteria for Canonicity

1. Apostolicity

2. Catholicity

3. Orthodoxy

VII. The Biblical Canon and the Problem of Textual Reception

2. Alternative Proposals for the Problem of Interpretation

I. Ulrich Luz: Wirkungsgeschichte

II. Richard B. Hays: Intertextual Reading of Scripture

III. Frances Young: The Ethics of Reading Paul

1. The Development of Young’s Understanding

2. A Critical Assessment of Young’s Hermeneutical Proposals

IV. Luke T. Johnson: Exegesis and Hermeneutics

1. Johnson’s Interpretive Approach

2. Critical Reflections on Johnson’s Proposals

V. Wayne A. Meeks: The Social Context of Pauline Theology

1. Meeks’s Approach Outlined

2. Examples of Meeks’s Social Interpretation

3. A Critical Evaluation of Meeks’s Approach

4. The Role of the Canon and Jesus’ Identity

3. The Shaping of the Pauline Corpus

I. The Letter to the Romans

II. The Pastoral Epistles

III. The Hermeneutical Significance of the Canonical Structure

4. Exegetical Probes: Introduction and Guidelines

I. Paul’s Apostolate and the Gospel

1. Characteristic Features of Paul’s Apostleship

2. The Theological Implications of Canon

II. Abraham’s Faith in Galatians 3 and Romans 4

1. J. C. Beker’s Categories of Contingency and Coherence

2. J. Louis Martyn’s Analysis of the Role of the “Teachers”

3. A Canonical Reading of Abraham’s Faith according to Paul

4. Justification in Philippians

5. Justification in the Pastorals

6. Hermeneutical Implications

III. Life in the Spirit

1. Romans 8:1–27

2. Galatians 5:13–26

3. The Canonical Relation of Romans 8 and Galatians 5

4. 2 Corinthians 3:1–4:6

5. Richard Hays and Ernst Käsemann on 2 Corinthians 3

IV. Community Gifts and Worship

1. 1 Corinthians 12–14

2. Romans 12:1–21

3. Canonical Shaping of Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12

4. Ephesians 4:7–16...