Institute
of Pastoral
Studies

Richard
Ascough

Queen's
Theological College
Kingston, Ontario
Canada, K7L 3N6

(613) 533-6000
x78066

fax: (613) 533-6879

rsa@post.queensu.ca

http://post.
queensu.ca/~rsa

Painting of Paul

Jeffers 1999



Roetzel 1998

Course Description | Required Readings | Outline
Assignments | Supplementary Bibliography
Course Resources (http://post.queensu.ca/~rsa/resources.htm)

At the successful completion of this course, students will:

• show familiarity with the content and background of the letters attributed to Paul

• understand typical literary and rhetorical features of Paul's letters

• demonstrate an ability to engage critical issues that arise in the analysis of passages from Paul's letters

• demonstrate an ability to integrate Paul's letters into reflection on pastoral issues of today.

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Required Readings (before the course begins)

Bible: Almost any version of the Bible is fine, although the New Revised Standard Version or the Revised Standard Version are recommended for study purposes. Do not use the King James Version or the Living Bible (or any other paraphrase). See my guide to English Versions of the Bible for help in choosing a translation.

James S. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999).

Calvin Roetzel, The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context, (4th edition; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1998).

The apocryphal Acts of Paul, sections 2, 8, 10. You can access the text through the internet at http://wesley.nnu.edu/noncanon/acts/actpaul.htm or a copy can be obtained through the IPS office.

Krister Stendahl, "Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West" in Paul Among the Jews and Gentiles and Other Essays (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976) 78-96. A copy can be obtained through your local library or through the IPS office.

All of the textbooks should be read before the course begins. Supplementary reading is provided for each topic (below) for those interested in pursuing the topic(s) further. All students should come to class prepared to discuss the readings and the discussion questions/topics in detail.

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Course Outline

Timetable

• 8:30 - 11:45 Morning Session (3.25 hrs)
• 11:45 - 1:15 Lunch (1.5 hrs)
• 1:15 - 4:30 Afternoon Session (3.25 hrs)

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Assignments

10% Reaction Paper: Read all thirteen letters of Paul (read a letter in its entirety in one sitting). Write a 2 page (double-spaced) reaction paper to your reading. What do you like about Paul? What do you dislike? What questions of issues were raised for you for the study of Paul? What passages did you find particularly troubling? Due on the first day of class.

10% Article Evaluation: Read Stendahl 1976 and write a 2 page summary and critical reaction paper (double-spaced). About half of the paper should be devoted to summarizing the thesis and major arguments of the article while the other half should be a critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the article (i.e., did the author prove his thesis?). Due on the first day of class.

30% Pauline Letter, 3 pages, double spaced. Write a letter from Paul addressing the following situation:

The members of the Corinthian Christian community have recently healed their rifts and become a unified congregation. According to the last report worship is proceeding in an orderly, Spirit-filled manner. However, Claudius Hostilius Philadelphus, who has been a member of the congregation along with his household for some time and is a generous benefactor, has also started attending the bi-weekly meetings of the association of garment makers. At these meetings there is much drinking along with libations poured out to Dionysos. The Corinthians have written to Paul to ask how they should deal with the situation. Paul considers Claudius a friend and stayed at his house for part of his time at Corinth.

50% Exegetical or Thematic Essay, 10-12 pages, double spaced. A paper written on any passage in the Pauline letters (about 15 verses) or on a specific historical or theological topic arising from the Pauline letters. The focus of the paper should be the critical exegetical issues in the text or the critical historical and/or theological issues surrounding the topic. This assignment is not a sermon, but an academic paper and should be written in accordance with academic style. See my online Course Resources page (http://post.queensu.ca/~rsa/resources.htm) for guides for doing exegesis and writing research papers.

OR

Bible Study Guide, 10-12 pages, double spaced. Choose any passage in the pauline letters (about 15 verses) and develop a Bible study guide for the passage. Begin by briefly describing your audience and stating the primary learning goals of the study. Include the questions that you will use to frame the discussion. For each question provide brief summaries of the type of things you would like to bring out of the group in each of the questions. Also include information that you will provide to the group to help them understand the social and literary context of the passage. Include any handouts or visual helps you might use. Be sure to also include "so what" questions that connect the passage to the group's situation(s). This assignment is not to read like a sermon but a guide to group discussion. At the same time, I do expect full sentences and an academic style when discussing exegetical and contextual issues for each question.

In writing either the research paper of the Bible study you should consult (and reference) at least three scholarly works on your passage/topic (e.g., books, articles, essays, or commentaries; this does not include the course textbooks, although you are free to reference these as well as the other three).

The paper is due on or before August 4, 2002, and can be submitted through the mail, by e-mail, or by fax but must arrive by the due date.

For an indication of how I grade written assignments see my Evaluation Guide
(http://post.queensu.ca/~rsa/evaltion.htm)

Please do not hand in assignments enclosed in a covering of some sort (e.g., binder, plastic sleeve); just place a staple in the top left corner.

Academic Integrity: Academic dishonesty is a serious offense and can result in a grade of F and a notation in the student's record. All use of sources in any form, paper or electronic, must be acknowledged and documented in both written and oral presentations. This includes indirect use of another's ideas as well as direct quotation.

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Supplementary Bibliography

Ascough, Richard S. 2000. "The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association." Journal of Biblical Literature 19/2: 311-28.

------. 1998. What Are They Saying About the Formation of Pauline Churches? New York and Mahwah: Paulist.

------. 1997. "Translocal Relationships Among Voluntary Associations and Early Christianity." Journal of Early Christian Studies 5/2: 223-41.

------. 1996. "The Completion of a Religious Duty: The Background of 2 Cor 8.1-15." New Testament Studies 42/4: 584-99.

Bailey, John A. 1979. "Who Wrote II Thessalonians." New Testament Studies 25:131-45.

Balch, David L. 1981. Let Wives Be Submissive: The Domestic Code in 1 Peter. Chico: Scholars Press.

Banks, Robert. 1994. Paul's Idea of Community: Revised Edition. Peabody: Hendrickson.

Bornkamm, Günther. 1971. Paul. New York: Harper & Row.

Branick, Vincent. 1989. The House Church in the Writings of Paul. Wilmington: Michael Glazier.

Donfried, Karl P. 1991. The Romans Debate: Revised and Expanded Edition. Peabody: Hendrickson.

Doty, William G. 1973. Letters in Primitive Christianity. GBS. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Dunn, James D. G. 1997. The Theology of Paul the Apostle. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Fee, Gordon D. 1996. Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God. Peabody: Hendrickson.

------. 1994. God's Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul. Peabody: Hendrickson.

Ferguson, Everett. 1993. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Fitzmyer, Joseph A. 1989. Paul and His Theology: A Brief Sketch. 2nd Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. [=NJBC §§ 79, 82]

Francis, Fred O. and J. Paul Sampley. 1984. Pauline Parallels. 2nd edition. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Furnish, Victor Paul. 1985. The Moral Teaching of Paul: Selected Issues. 2nd edition. Nashville: Abingdon.

Georgi, Dieter. 1992. Remembering the Poor: The History of Paul's Collection for Jerusalem. Nashville: Abingdon.

Hock, Ronald F. 1980. The Social Context of Paul's Ministry: Tentmaking and Apostleship. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Hurd, John C. 1965. The Origin of 1 Corinthians. Macon: Mercer University Press.

Jervis, L. Ann. 1991. The Purpose of Romans: A Comparative Letter Structure Investigation. JSNTSup 55. Sheffied: JSOT Press.

Jewett, Robert. 1994. Paul the Apostle to America: Cultural Trends and Pauline Scholarship. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

------. 1979. A Chronology of Paul's Life. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Keck, Leander E. and Victor Paul Furnish. 1984. The Pauline Letters. Nashville: Abingdon.

Kidd, Reggie M. 1990. Wealth and Beneficience in the Pastoral Epistles: A "Bourgeois" Form of Early Christianity? SBLDS 122. Atlanta: Scholars Press.

Knox, John. 1987. Chapters in a Life of Paul. 2nd Edition. Macon: Mercer University Press.

Lincoln, Andrew J. and A. J. M. Wedderbrun. 1993. The Theology of the Later pauline Letters. New Testament Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

MacDonald, Dennis R. 1983. The Legend of the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon. Philadelphia: Westminster.

Mack, Burton L. 1990. Rhetoric and the New Testament. GBS. Minneapolis: Fortress.

Malherbe, Abraham J. 1989. Paul and the Popular Philosophers. Minneapolis: Fortress.

------. 1987. Paul and the Thessalonians: The Philosophic Tradition of Pastoral Care. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Marrow, Stanley B. 1986. Paul: His Letters and His Theology. An Introduction to Paul's Epistles. New York/Mahwah: Paulist.

Marshall, I. Howard. 1993. "The Theology of Philemon." In The Theology of the Shorter Pauline Letters, Karl P. Donfried and I. Howard Marshall, 177-91. New Testament Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Martin, Dale B. 1990. Slavery as Salvation: The Metaphor of Slavery in Pauline Christianity. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Meeks, Wayne A. 1986. The Moral World of the First Christians. LEC 6. Philadelphia: Westminster.

------. 1983. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Mitchell, Margaret M. 1991. Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation: An Exegetical Investigation of the Language and Composition of 1 Corinthians. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

Nanos, Mark D. 1996. The Mystery of Romans: The Jewish Context of Paul's Letter. Minneapolis: Fortress.

O'Toole, Robert F. 1990. Who Is a Christian: A Study in Pauline Ethics. Collegeville: Liturgical Press / Michael Glazier.

Pedersen, Norman R. 1985. Rediscovering Paul: Philemon and the Sociology of Paul's Narrative World. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Plevnik, Joseph. 1986. What Are They Saying About Paul? New York/Mahwah: Paulist.

Rapske, Brian. 1994. The Book of Acts and Paul in Roman Custody. BAFCS 3. Grand Rapids and Carlisle: Eerdmans and Paternoster.

Roetzel, Calvin. 1999. Paul: The Man and the Myth. Minneapolis: Fortress.

------. 1998. The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context. 4th edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

Sanders, E. P. 1983. Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People. Minneapolis: Fortress.

--------. 1977. Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion. Minneapolis: Fortress.

Segal, Alan F. 1990. Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Soards, Marion L. 1987. The Apostle Paul: An Introduction to His Writings and Teaching. New York and Mahwah: Paulist.

Stendahl, Krister. 1976. Paul Among the Jews and Gentiles and Other Essays. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Stowers, Stanley K. 1994. A Rereading of Romans: Justice, Jews, and Gentiles. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

------. 1986. Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity. LEC 5. Philadelphia: Westminster.

Trobish, David. 1994. Paul's Letter Collection: Tracing the Origins. Minneapolis: Fortress.

Wedderburn, A. J. M. 1991. The Reasons for Romans. Minneapolis: Fortress.

Witherington, Ben. 1994. Friendship and Finances in Philippi: The Letters of Paul to the Philippians. The New Testament in Context. Valley Forge: Trinity Press International.

Young, Brad H. 1998. Paul the Jewish Theologian: A Pharisee Among Christians, Jews and Gentiles. Peabody: Hendrickson.

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