CRUCIFORMITY

Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross

Michael J. Gorman

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.

© 2001 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

All rights reserved

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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

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

www.eerdmans.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gorman, Michael J., 1955–

Cruciformity: Paul’s narrative spirituality of the cross / Michael J. Gorman.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8028-4795-9 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul—Theology.

2. Jesus Christ—Crucifixion—Biblical teaching.

3. Paul, the Apostle, Saint—Contributions in theology of the cross.

I. Title.

BT453.G65 2001

227′.06—dc21

2001023812

Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations in this publication are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and used by permission.

To My Family (Nancy, Mark, Amy, Brian) and My Students,

who have taught me much about the apostle Paul,

and about cruciformity

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. The Cruciform God

Paul’s Experience of “The Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ”

2. The Exalted Crucified Messiah

“Apprehended by Christ to Be Conformed to Him”

3. The Spirit of Cruciformity

Paul’s Experience of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ

4. The Triune God of Cruciform Love

Paul’s Experience of the Trinity

5. The Word of the Cross

Narratives of the Cross, Patterns of Cruciformity

6. Cruciform Faith (I)

Paul, the “Fundamental Option,” and the Faith of Jesus Christ

7. Cruciform Faith (II)

The Character and Cost of Faith

8. Cruciform Love (I)

The Pattern of the Crucified Messiah

9. Cruciform Love (II)

Apostolic Cruciformity

10. Cruciform Love (III)

The Narrative Shape of the Faithful Community

11. Cruciform Power

The Paradox of Weakness

12. Cruciform Hope

The Future of Cruciformity

13. Communities of Cruciformity

Paul’s Experience and Vision of the Church

14. Cruciformity Today

Challenges to, and the Challenges of, the Cross

Bibliography

Index of Modern Authors

Index of Scripture References and Other Ancient Sources

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I was fortunate to begin the formal study of the apostle Paul with excellent teachers in college, seminary, and graduate school: John Herzog, Bruce Metzger, the late J. Christiaan Beker, Paul Meyer, David Adams, Cullen Story, Betty Edwards, and Martin de Boer. Special thanks are due to Paul Meyer and Martin de Boer, who began and completed, respectively, the supervision of my doctoral dissertation on Paul in the 1980s. Both Martin and Bruce Metzger saw this book in draft form and responded favorably to it.

Two friends and fellow interpreters of Paul, Richard Hays (Duke University Divinity School) and Steve Fowl (Loyola College in Maryland), encouraged me in the writing ...