After Paul

The Apostle's Legacy in Early Christianity

by James W. Aageson

Imprint: Baylor University Press

Sales Date: 2023-07-15

279 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 x 1.06 in

Hardcover
9781481318693
Published: August 2023

$59.99

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For Professors: Exam Copies

Description
Contents
Bio
Praise

After Paul: The Apostle’s Legacy in Early Christianity focuses on the many ways Pauline thought and tradition were reinterpreted, reused, reframed, and reconstructed in the first centuries of Christianity. James W. Aageson contends that it is insufficient simply to focus on Paul or on his legacy in the Greco-Roman world; what is needed is a bifocal look at Paul with the reference points being both how Paul transformed his own thinking and later how Paul and his thought were transformed by others in the church.

To speak of Paul’s legacy implies more than the reception of his texts, his ideas, or his theology. It also implies more than the interpretive techniques or the references to Paul by early post-Paul writers. It refers to the apostle’s wider impact, influence, and sway in the first centuries of the church as well. The questions he addressed, his impulse toward theological reflection and argumentation, and his approach to pastoral and ethical concerns undoubtedly influenced the future course of the Christ movement. Aageson’s investigation takes up the issues of memory and metamorphosis, conflict and opposition, authority and control, legacy and empire, the church and the Jews, women and marriage, Paul in place, and church unity to pinpoint interrelationships and interactions among important strands in Paul’s thought, persona, and authority as together they interfaced with the changing culture and social life of early Christianity.

After Paul is not intended to be a history of the first centuries of Pauline Christianity nor an exhaustive account of everything that pertains to the early development of Paul’s legacy. Rather, Aageson endeavors to plot connections, identify patterns, and develop a theoretical context for understanding Paul’s legacy in early Christianity. The picture that emerges is one of continuity and discontinuity between Paul and Pauline tradition as the historical Paul became a figure of memory and remembrance, framed and reframed. This specific investigation offers a fresh entry point to understanding the larger question of how the Christian tradition came into its own as a social body and religious movement that could endure even after Paul.

Preface
Credits
Abbreviations

Introduction
An Overview of Paul’s Legacy
Paul and Religion
An Overview of Recent Scholarship
A Methodological Overview and the Intricate Tapestry of Early Christianity
Conclusion

1. Memory, Metamorphosis, and Christian Development: Paul and the Formation of a Legacy
Scripture, Canon, and Interpretation: The Point of Entry
The Earliest Remembering and Reframing of Paul
The Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of Paul
The Pastoral Epistles
Ignatius of Antioch
Polycarp of Smyrna
Clement of Rome
Conclusion

2. Meaning, Method, and Conflict: Paul’s Place in Early Church Tradition
1 Cor 1:18–2:16: The Point of Entry
A Lens for Interpreting Pauline Tradition
From Dissension and Exhortation to Refutation and Apologetics
1 Clement
Ignatius to the Ephesians
Irenaeus: Adversus haereses 3.1–5
Tertullian: Contra Marcion 5.5–5.6
Conclusion

3. Authority and Control in Pauline Tradition: The Building of a Legacy
Romans 6: The Point of Entry
Authority, Control, and Institutional Development
The Pastoral Epistles
Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, and 1 Clement
Irenaeus and Tertullian
Authority and Its Cross Currents
Thecla
Marcion
Valentinus
Conclusion

4. Life in the Empire: Paul’s Legacy, the Church, and Rome
Resistance, Accommodation, and Negotiation: The Point of Entry
Paul’s Legacy and the Empire
Luke’s Paul
Paul and the Pastorals
Paul and Thecla
Paul, Imprisonment, Suffering, Martyrdom, Imitation
A Foundational Christian Narrative
Ignatius of Antioch
Polycarp
1 Clement
Later Stories, Arguments, and Persecutions
The Martyrdom of Paul
Tertullian: De fuga in persecutione
Conclusion

5. Self-Definition and Contention: Israel, the Jews, and the Church
Abraham, Israel, and Gentile Christianity: The Points of Entry
The Legacy of Paul and the Jews, Judaism, and Israel
Abraham
Jews, Judaism, and Israel
Ignatius to the Magnesians
Epistle of Barnabas
Epistle to Diognetus
Justin Martyr: Dialogue with Trypho
Tertullian: Adversus Judaeos
Conclusion

6. Sexuality, Marriage, and Asceticism: Paul’s Ethical Legacy
1 Corinthians 7, 1 Thessalonians 4, and the Debate: The Point of Entry
Marriage, Sexuality, Celibacy, and the Legacy of Paul
The Pastoral and Deutero-Pauline Epistles
The Apostolic Fathers
Thecla and Sexual Renunciation
Tertullian on Chastity and Virginity
Exhortation to Chastity
On Monogamy
On Modesty
To His Wife
Methodius: Symposium of the Ten Virgins
Conclusion

7. Paul’s Legacy in Place: Philippi, Rome, and Corinth
Paul’s Legacy in Place: The Point of Entry
Paul’s Early Legacy in Place in the New Testament
Paul in Philippi: The Birth of a Legacy
Paul and Rome: The Birth of an Imperial Legacy
Paul, Corinth, and the Corinthians: The Birth of a Pastoral Legacy
Conclusion

8. E Pluribus Unum or Vice Versa: Mapping Unity and Diversity in Early Christian and Pauline Tradition
One Body, Many Members: The Point of Entry
Legacy and Geographical Location
Ecclesiology and Opposition
Function and Formation
Unity and Diversity of Belief
Unity and Diversity of Practice: Baptism, Eucharist, Worship, and Ministry
Diversity beneath the Surface
Conclusion

Conclusion

With methodological sophistication and good judgment, James Aageson gives readers significant new clarity about Paul’s influence on the development of the church in its first four centuries. Aageson shows how the different tellings of Paul’s life and martyrdom and different readings of his letters were constructed to meet needs and serve multiple, sometimes competing, communities. This engaging study provides a sure guide to thinking about the influence of Paul’s legacy (not simplistically of Paul) without overestimating it or denying its power. Everyone interested in the development of the church in its early centuries will find this book a vital contribution.
~Jerry L. Sumney, Professor of Biblical Studies, Lexington Theological Seminary

No one is more qualified to write a book about the Pauline legacy than James Aageson. Developing previous research, he focuses on eight specific and important Pauline topics to explore the Pauline legacy. Aageson is attuned to the latest approaches to New Testament textual study, and so considers memory, place, and social factors, among others, along with a variety of important textual traditions. Each chapter begins with a Pauline point of entry and then explores the complex and sometimes contradictory developments of this legacy. While I may disagree with what constitutes the historical Paul and the traditional Paul, I commend Aageson for his rigorous and thorough study of these issues.
~Stanley E. Porter, President, Dean, and Professor of New Testament, McMaster Divinity College, Canada

James Aageson gives us new insights into the fascinating process of constant reinterpretations of the founding traditions and texts of the movement of emerging Christianity, which found in Paul its first author and interpreter. Paul’s legacy allows us to understand the creativity, innovation, and richness of perspective of the Pauline texts and to trace how Paul's interpretation of the world, with its main topics and themes, was gradually transformed through a chain of interpretive steps into the Christian theology of Tertullian and Irenaeus. An excellent introduction to the history of theology in emerging Christianity.
~Oda Wischmeyer, Professor Emerita of Ancient Judaism and New Testament, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

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