St. Paul among the Philosophers (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion)

In his epistles, St. Paul sounded a universalism that has recently been taken up by secular philosophers who do not share his belief in Christ, but who regard his project as centrally important for contemporary political life. The Pauline project -- as they see it -- is the universality of truth, the conviction that what is true is true for everyone, and that the truth should be known by everyone. In this volume, eminent New Testament scholars, historians, and philosophers debate whether Paul's promise can be fulfilled. Is the proper work of reading Paul to reconstruct what he said to his audiences? Is it crucial to retrieve the sense of history from the text? What are the philosophical undercurrents of Paul's message? This scholarly dialogue ushers in a new generation of Pauline studies. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction Postcards from Paul: Subtraction versus Grafting......Page 14 Part One: Paul among the Philosophers......Page 38 1 St. Paul, Founder of the Universal Subject......Page 40 2 From Job to Christ: A Paulinian Reading of Chesterton......Page 52 Part Two: Paul between Jews and Christians......Page 72 3 Historical Integrity, Interpretive Freedom: The Philosopher’s Paul and the Problem of Anachronism......Page 74 4 Paul between Judaism and Hellenism......Page 87 5 The Promise of Teleology, the Constraints of Epistemology, and Universal Vision in Paul......Page 104 6 Paul among the Antiphilosophers; or, Saul among the Sophists......Page 122 7 Paul’s Notion of Dunamis: Between the Possible and the Impossible......Page 155 8 Concluding Roundtable: St. Paul among the Historians and the Systematizers......Page 173 List of Contributors......Page 198 Index......Page 200 The Pauline project is the universality of truth, the conviction that what is true is true for everyone, and that the truth should be known by everyone. This title intends to debate whether Paul's promise can be fulfilled. Edited By John D. Caputo & Linda Martín Alcoff. Proceedings Of A Conference Held Apr. 14-16, 2005 At Syracuse University. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Paul's thought explored by contemporary philosophers.