How Fantasy Comes True: Paul between Political Realism and Eschatological Fantasy
Keywords:
Apostle Paul, Authorities, Baptism, Equality, Law of the stronger, Romans 13
Abstract
In Romans 13 Paul toned down the revolutionary potential of Christianity connected with eschatological ideas like the kingdom of God. He was a kind of political realist and his spiritualizing tendency was not that of a social revolutionary. However, the spiritual change preached by Paul influenced attitudes and through them also social life far beyond the limits Paul could ever have imagined. In a sense, Paul’s eschatological fantasy comes true via spiritual change.
References
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Krauter, Stefan (2009). Studien zu Röm 13,1–7. Paulus und der politische Diskurs der ne- ronischen Zeit. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 243).
Kyrychenko, Alexander (2014). The Roman Army and the Expansion of the Gospel: The Role of the Centurion in Luke-Acts. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentli- che Wissenschaft 203. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
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Liddell, Henry George, Scott, Robert and Jones, H. Stuart (2011). A Greek-English Lexicon. The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae Version. Oakland: University of California.
Luther, Martin (1900). D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Band 11. Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger.
Morgan, Teresa (2007). Popular Morality in the Early Roman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moss, Candida (2013). The Myth of Persecution. How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom. San Francisco: HarperOne.
Plato (1982), Plato I: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus. Trans. W. R. M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Plato (1983), Plato III: Lysis, Symposium, Gorgias. Trans. W. R. M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Thorsteinsson, Runar M. (2010). Roman Christianity and Roman Stoicism. A Comparative Study of Ancient Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thucydides (1959). History of the Peloponnesian War, Vol. 3. Trans. C.F. Smith. London: Heinemann.
Turley, David (2000). “Sklaverei V.” In Theologische Realenzyklopädie 31, ed. Gerhard Müller, 383–393. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Virgil (1916). Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid. Trans. Fairclough, H R. Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press.
Weinrich, William C., ed. (2005). Revelation. New Testament 12, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press.
Wilckens, Ulrich (2008). Der Brief an die Römer 3: Röm 12–16. Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament VI/3. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag.
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Aune, David E. (1998). Revelation 6–16. Word Biblical Commentary 52B. Nashville, Texas: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Badiou, Alain (2003). Saint Paul. The Foundation of Universalism. Trans. Ray Brassier. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Barnikol, Ernst (1961). “Römer 13. Der nichtpaulinische Ursprung der absoluten Obrigkeitsbejahung von Römer 13, 1–7.” In Studien zum Neuen Testament und zur Patristik, ed. Erich Klostermann, 65–133. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
Bonhöffer, Adolf (1911). Epiktet und das Neue Testament. Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 10. Giessen: Verlag von Alfred Töpelmann (vormals J. Rik- ker).
Brennan, Tad (1998). “The Old Stoic Theory of Emotions.” In The Emotions in Hellenistic Philosophy, The New Synthese Historical Library, Vol. 46. Eds. Troels Engberg- Pedersen and Juha Sihvola, 21–70. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
Campbell, Brian (2002). War and Society in Imperial Rome 31 BC — AD 284. London: Routledge.
Carter, T. L. (2004). “The Irony of Romans 13.” Novum Testamentum 46.3: 209–28.
Cook, John Granger (2010). Roman Attitudes Toward the Christians. From Claudius to Hadrian. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 261. Tübin- gen: Mohr Siebeck.
Cooley, Alison E. (2009). Res Gestae Divi Augusti: Text, Translation, and Commentary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crane, Gregory (1998). Thucydides and the Ancient Simplicity: The Limits of Political Real- ism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cullmann, Oscar (1956). Der Staat im Neuen Testament. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck).
Dmitriev, Sviatoslav (2011). The Greek Slogan of Freedom and Early Roman Politics in Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Elliot, John H. (2000). 1 Peter. A New Translation with an Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Bible 37B. New York: Doubleday.
Elliot, Neil (1994). Liberating Paul. The Justice of God and the Politics of the Apostle. Shef- field: Sheffield Academic Press.
Engberg-Pedersen, Troels (2006). “Paul’s Stoicizing Politics in Romans 12–13: The role of 13.1–10 in the Argument.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 29.2: 163– 72.
Epictetus, The Discourses as reported by Arrian, the Manual, and Fragments (1926 & 1928). 2 vols. Trans. W. A. Oldfather. Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library, Har- vard University Press.
Eusebius (1964–65). Ecclesiastical History. 2 vols. Trans. Kirsopp Lake. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.
Fuhrmann, Christopher J. (2012). Policing the Roman Empire. Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Glancy, Jennifer A. (2002). Slavery in Early Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grahn, Malin (2013). Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Stoic Philosophy. Helsinki: University of Helsinki (Philosophical Studies from the University of Helsinki, Vol. 41).
Harrison, James R. (2011). Paul and the Imperial Authorities at Thessalonica and Rome: A Study in the Conflict of Ideology. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 273. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Hesiod (1920). The Homeric Hymns and Homerica. Trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Lon- don: William Heinemann.
Hobbes, Thomas (1929). Hobbes’s Leviathan. Reprinted from the Edition of 1651 with an Essay by the Late W. G. Pogson Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Holloway, Paul (2009). Coping with Prejudice.1 Peter in Social-Psychological Perspective. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 244. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
Hubbard, Moyer V. (2005). Urban Uprisings in the Roman World: The Social Setting of the Mobbing of Sosthenes. New Testament Studies 51.3: 416–428.
Huttunen, Niko (2009). Paul and Epictetus on Law. A Comparison. Library of the New Testament Studies 405. London: T&T Clark.
Huttunen, Niko (2010). Raamatullinen sota. Raamatun käyttö ja vaikutus vuoden 1918 sisällissodan tulkinnoissa. Helsinki: Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura (Historialli- sia tutkimuksia 255).
Huttunen, Niko (2011). “The Bible, Finland, and the Civil War of 1918. Reception His- tory and Effective History of the Bible as Contextualized Biblical Studies.” Studia Theologica. Nordic Journal of Theology 65.2:146–171.
Huttunen, Niko (2013). “In the Category of Philosophy. Christians in Early Pagan Ac- counts.” In “Others” and the Construction of Early Christian Identity, eds. Raimo Hakola, Nina Nikki and Ulla Tervahauta, 239–81. Helsinki: The Finnish Exegetical Society (Publications of the Finnish Exegetical Society 106).
Huttunen, Niko (2015). “Brothers in Arms. Soldiers in Early Christianity.” In Gender, Social Roles and Occupations in Early Christianity. Ed. Antti Marjanen, forthcoming.
Jewett, Robert (2007). Romans. A Commentary. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Josephus (1976-89). Jewish Antiquities I–X. Trans. H.S.J. Thackeray, R. Marcus, A. Wikgren, L.H. Feldman. Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (1999). Gesammelte Schriften (Akademie-Ausgabe), Vol. 6. Electronic Edition. Charlottesville, Va.: InteLex Corporartion.
Klein, Richard (2000). “Sklaverei IV.” In Theologische Realenzyklopädie 31, ed. Gerhard Müller, 379–83. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Krauter, Stefan (2009). Studien zu Röm 13,1–7. Paulus und der politische Diskurs der ne- ronischen Zeit. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 243).
Kyrychenko, Alexander (2014). The Roman Army and the Expansion of the Gospel: The Role of the Centurion in Luke-Acts. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentli- che Wissenschaft 203. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Lake, Kirsopp, trans. (1977). The Apostolic Fathers. 2 vols. [1912–1913]. Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press.
Liddell, Henry George, Scott, Robert and Jones, H. Stuart (2011). A Greek-English Lexicon. The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae Version. Oakland: University of California.
Luther, Martin (1900). D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Band 11. Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger.
Morgan, Teresa (2007). Popular Morality in the Early Roman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moss, Candida (2013). The Myth of Persecution. How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom. San Francisco: HarperOne.
Plato (1982), Plato I: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus. Trans. W. R. M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Plato (1983), Plato III: Lysis, Symposium, Gorgias. Trans. W. R. M. Lamb. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Plato (1982), Plato I: Republic I, Books I–V. Trans. Paul Shorey. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Pliny, the Younger (1961–63). Letters, 2 vols. Trans. W. Melmoth, rev. W.M.L. Hutchin- son. London: William Heinemann.
Räisänen, Heikki (1992). Jesus, Paul and Torah: Collected Essays. Journal for the Study of the New Testament: Supplement Series 43. Sheffield: JSOT Press.
Räisänen, Heikki (2008). “Torn between Two Loyalties: Romans 9–11 and Paul’s Conflicting Convictions.” In The Nordic Paul: Finnish Approaches to Pauline Theology, eds. Lars Aejmelaeus and Antti Mustakallio, 19–39. Library of New Testament Studies 374. London: T&T Clark.
Räisänen, Heikki (2010). The Rise of Christian Beliefs. The Thought World of Early Chris- tians. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Ranke, Leopold von (1883). Weltgeschichte 3: Das altrömische Kaiserthum. Mit kritischen Erörterungen zur alten Geschichte. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.
Riekkinen, Vilho (1980). Römer 13. Aufzeichnung und Weiterführung der exegetischen Diskussion. Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae: Dissertationes humanarum litterarum 23. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Roberts, Alexander, and James Donaldson, eds. (1994). The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. [1885–87], Reprint. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.
Schrage, Wolfgang (2001). Der Erste Brief an die Korinther: 4 Teilband: 1Kor 15,1–16,24. Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament VII/4. Düsseldorf: Benziger Verlag.
Schrage, Wolfgang (2008). Der Erste Brief an die Korinther: 1 Teilband: 1Kor 1,1–6,11. 2. Auflage. Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament VII/1. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag.
Snellman, Johan Vilhelm (1993). Samlade arbeten III: 1842–1843. Helsingfors: Statsrådets kansli.
Suetonius (1965). Suetonius I. Trans. J.C. Rolfe II. Loeb Classical Library. London: Wil- liam Heinemann.
Tacitus (1925–37). Histories and Annals. Trans. C.H. Moore and J. Jackson Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press.
Taubes, Jacob (2004). The Political Theology of Paul. Trans. Dana Holländer. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Tepper, Yotam, and Leah Di Segni (2006). A Christian Prayer Hall of the Third Century CE at Kefar ’Othnay (Legio): Excavations at the Megiddo prison 2005. Jerusalem: Israel Antiques Authority.
Thorsteinsson, Runar M. (2010). Roman Christianity and Roman Stoicism. A Comparative Study of Ancient Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thucydides (1959). History of the Peloponnesian War, Vol. 3. Trans. C.F. Smith. London: Heinemann.
Turley, David (2000). “Sklaverei V.” In Theologische Realenzyklopädie 31, ed. Gerhard Müller, 383–393. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Virgil (1916). Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid. Trans. Fairclough, H R. Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press.
Weinrich, William C., ed. (2005). Revelation. New Testament 12, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press.
Wilckens, Ulrich (2008). Der Brief an die Römer 3: Röm 12–16. Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament VI/3. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag.
Wilson, R. McL. (2005). Colossians and Philemon: A Critical Exegetical Commentary. London: T&T Clark International.
Published
2015-12-29
How to Cite
Huttunen, N. (2015). How Fantasy Comes True: Paul between Political Realism and Eschatological Fantasy. Stasis, 3(2). Retrieved from https://stasisjournal.net/index.php/journal/article/view/41
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