in the letters, nor is there primarily “critical reflection on religious experience”—one possible definition of theology. The purpose of Paul’s letters generally, and of the various kinds of narratives within them, is not to teach theology but to mold behavior, to affirm or—more often—to alter patterns of living, patterns of experience. The purpose of his letters, in other words, is pastoral or spiritual before it is theological. Today we might speak of his goal as spiritual formation; indeed, Paul