most profound revelations that a human being was able to access (2 Cor. 12:1–4), whether in the context of Judaic or of Stoic thought. Historical critical readings of the New Testament seek to illuminate the text by exploring the world in which the text came into being. It is important to recognize, however, that it also takes account of the differing settings in which the documents and their constituent sources were generated. Meeting that challenge provides a clearer sense of the evolution of the
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