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The Prophet in the Apostle: Paul's Self- Understanding and the Letter to the Romans

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The Prophet in the Apostle: Paul's Self- Understanding and the Letter to the Romans The Prophet in the Apostle: Paul's Self- Understanding and the Letter to the Romans Author: Stephen Peter Rugg Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:107510 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2017 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. THE PROPHET IN THE APOSTLE: PAUL’S SELF-UNDERSTANDING AND THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS Submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of LICENTIATE IN SACRED THEOLOGY by S. P. Rugg Supervised by Fr. Thomas D. Stegman, S.J., PhD Prof. Andrew R. Davis, PhD TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE PROPHETIC PROLEGOMENA 7 THE AUSPICES OF PROPHECY: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY LINGUISTIC AND HISTORICAL DETOUR 7 PROPHETIC MISUNDERSTANDINGS: RENAN AND THE HELLENIZATION OF PROPHECY 13 RECENT APPROACHES TO PAUL AS A PROPHET 19 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS AND DISTINCTIONS 24 A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL: DAVID AUNE 27 WHICH PROPHET? 36 CHAPTER TWO: PAUL AND THE PROPHETS 38 LINGUISTICALLY TYING PROPHET AND APOSTLE 38 DESCRIBING PROPHECY 45 SPEAKING FOR GOD 48 COMMISSIONED HERALDS 57 CALLED TO MIRROR THE DIVINE PATHOS 62 CONTEXTUALIZED NARRATORS OF ISRAEL’S STORY 67 CHAPTER THREE: READING ROMANS THROUGH A PROPHETIC LENS 74 THE UNIQUENESS OF ROMANS? 75 READING ROMANS THROUGH A PROPHETIC LENS 82 ESTABLISHING SPECIFIC PROPHETIC MOTIFS 85 THE PROPHETIC COMMISSION: ROMANS 1:1 85 SLAVE/SERVANT 86 SET APART FOR THE GOSPEL 90 CONTEXTUALIZING ISRAEL’S NARRATIVE: PAUL’S RECAPITULATION OF THE EXODUS-CONQUEST 93 HERMENEUTICAL CONSIDERATIONS 93 ROMANS 3:24 AND 8:23 98 PROPHETIC PRAXIS: FOUNDING COMMUNITIES AS THE RECONCILIATION OF ISRAEL (ROMANS 15:18-21) 106 CONCLUSION: APPLYING PROPHECY 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY 114 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Love, I shall perfect for you the child Who diligently potters in my brain Digging with heavy spade till sods were piled Or puddling through muck in deep drain. Yearly I would sow my yard-long garden. I’d strip a layer of sods to build the wall That was to keep out sow and pecking hen. Yearly, admitting these, the sods would fall. Or in the sucking clabber I would splash Delightedly and dam the flowing drain But always my bastions of clay and mush Would burst before the rising autumn rain. Love, you shall perfect for me this child Whose small imperfect limits would keep breaking: Within new limits now, arrange the world And square the circle: four walls and a ring. —Seamus Heaney, “Poem” This study came to me like a child whose persistent playfulness has never failed to provide an endless supply of work, often for others. Far more credit, and my heartfelt gratitude, goes out to those who have toiled as I played. As I accommodated breaches in my walls, remeasured limits, and delighted in the flow of reading and interpretation, Fr. Thomas Stegman and Dr. Andrew Davis labored to guide me toward a responsible and coherent presentation. Tom is the model pedagogue; understanding and demanding, his passion for students and the work of scholarship have continually inspired me to stay the course. He encouraged me to follow my passion into Biblical Studies; his example and support keep me here. Andrew’s gracious enthusiasm and gentle corrections shored up my weaknesses and reassured me when I wavered. Additional thanks is due to Fr. Richard Clifford, S.J. and Dr. Angela Harkins, who both freely gave their time and advice during the early stages of the project. The Center for Christian-Jewish Learning provided a Junior Scholars Research Grant that enabled me to dedicate myself more fully to study and writing; I am grateful for their support. My family, friends, and parishes have supported and loved me throughout this process. Throughout the years of study, my parents, Dr. Peter and Patricia Rugg, have been a source of support and my most enthusiastic readers. My wife, Beckey, and son, Neil, have tolerated my absence from home, always affirming another year of studies; their sacrifices have made it possible for me to pursue my passion, and I am eternally grateful. They have shown me the patience and kindness of love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:4, 7). They have borne the burden as I wrestled with this intruding idea, and dedicating this small work to them is but a small sign of the enormity of my gratitude. ii INTRODUCTION We all know that Paul is an apostle. He states it over and over again, and he defends it whenever it is called into question. We celebrate “Saint Paul, the Apostle” in our liturgical calendars and read selections from his letters almost every Sunday. Through much of Christian history everyone knew who you meant when you said “the Apostle;” we say “apostle” almost as if it were Paul’s first name. But what do we mean by “apostle”? What did Paul mean? My basic assumption with respect to this question is to take Paul at his word. As someone who instructs others to “imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor 11:1),1 interpreters should read Paul with Jesus in mind. And if we recognize in Jesus the ministries of a priest, prophet, and king, then an examination of Paul’s understanding of his apostolic status and ministry should begin by looking for evidence of these roles. We can’t presuppose that there will be evidence, but it seems to me to be a solid enough framework for asking questions. Of these three roles, “prophet” has been frequently examined with respect to Jesus’ ministry2 and often overlooked with respect to Paul’s.3 It, therefore, makes sense to establish Paul’s prophetic credentials as a first step toward a fuller investigation into “apostle” as a Christian term encompassing all three offices. I will not explicitly connect Paul to Jesus, but I do intend the connection. 1 All scriptural quotations are my own translation. 2 See, for example, N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 147-443. Nearly half of Wright’s examination of Jesus’ ministry comes under the category of “Profile of a Prophet.” 3 See E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977), 1: “Far hotter issues are raised by the phrase [‘Paul and Judaism’] than whether or not Paul should be called Jew or Christian…Is [Paul] to be primarily understood as a Jewish apocalypticist, a Hellenistic mystic, a Rabbi who accepted Jesus as the Messiah, a Hellenistic Jew? Or as none of these or as some combination of them?” While discussion of Paul’s prophetic self-identification has taken place since Sanders’s famous study, the possible categories for understanding Paul that Sanders lays out have remained the dominant suggestions. 1 I have chosen to attempt to establish Paul’s prophetic credentials for an additional reason. Among the ministries of priest, prophet, and king, I consider the prophet to be the articulation between the others. Articulation is an intriguing word because it can mean two different things. As a noun, it is a joint, like an elbow or knee, that enables the motion and movement of body parts. The vocation of a biblical prophet places him or her between God and the community, and, like a joint, the prophetic vocation makes possible a range of movement and coordination between the two. The prophet also articulates the relationship between priests and kings because their vocation spans both the spiritual and profane. That is not to anachronistically project anything like the religious and secular dichotomy that exists today in the West, but biblical prophets do critique and challenge both kings and priests. It is a vocation that keeps the other parts of the body from going off on their own, while still allowing them the movement they need to accomplish their tasks and live into their vocations. Articulate is also a verb describing the attempt to speak or write words or ideas clearly. I emphasize that it is the attempt and not the success that is important. Isaiah’s unenviable commission to “go and say to this people: Listen carefully, but do not understand! Look intently but do not perceive” (Isa 6:9) should be a warning to any would-be prophet who might think that a “word from the Lord” might clarify a thing or two. But prophets do the best they can, trying to articulate God’s message for the community, and sometimes, the community’s concerns back to God. As an articulation (in both senses) the prophetic vocation is vital, and we would do well in our faith communities to ensure support for the prophets God sends. My second assumption relates to the application of prophecy today. “Speaking for God” is playing with fire, not just because supernatural claims are démodé but also because some who claim to speak or act for God end up saying and doing horrific things. Having responsible 2 understandings of what prophecy is and isn’t can help to avoid both ends of extremism, the indifferent and the violent. When I read Paul, I am constantly struck by his continuous care for community, not just the communities he forms and supports but also the community of texts that shape his thought and words. Highlighting this intersection between community and prophecy is one step toward developing a responsible sense for its application. Implicit in this assumption is another: that prophecy needs to be applied in Christian communities today. Again, I will not make any explicit claims as to how that can be done, but my hope is that by highlighting Paul’s prophetic sense and ministry, others might find their own applications.
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