Wisdom Christology in Paul

Evangelical Theological Society , 2018

Here I look at the way that Paul confronts, adapts, and "Christianizes" Greco-Roman theo-philosophical God-language in order to better communicate the unique reality of the gospel and the Christian God in his theologizing and evangelism into the Hellenistic world. I examine three representative Pauline texts—1 Cor 8:4-6, Rom 11:36, and Col 1:15-17—to see how Paul speaks about the Christian God. I then provide a theological synthesis of the three texts and discuss the potential of constructing a better understanding of the development of theology proper in ante-Nicene, early Christianity.

TEOLITERARIA - Revista de Literaturas e Teologias ISSN 2236-993

This last essay of a three-part research on early Jewish-Christian traditions and Gnostic movements examines the reception of 1 Cor 2:1-16. Taking into consideration the Pauline Theology of the Cross, which emphasizes apostolic weakness; and revelations of the mysteries of God to those who were called perfect Christians, which provides empowerment through contemplation of this unveiling. There is an apparent ambiguity in Paul's arguments with many parallels in the gnostic traditions, apostolic fathers and other patristic texts. There are two clear sections on the textual reference used in this article, representing multiple interpretations throughout Pauline traditions, and revealing a polyphonic situation with ambivalent categories. These two studied sections disclose a polyphonic situation in

2024

The presence and function of Old Testament references within Paul's writing is a growing field. This thesis examined the presence of the Old Testament within 1 Cor 1:18-3:23. It examined its presence in the form of citations, allusions, and echoes. Its presence is greater than what many might think. Each Scripture reference was interpreted in relation to the Old Testament context and early Jewish ideas. It found that Paul used these Old Testament references in agreement with their Old Testament context and with much of early Jewish literature.

This book is a lightly revised version of Chris Tilling's doctoral dissertation written at London School of Theology under Max Turner. In it Tilling aims to outflank previous writers on Paul's Christology by providing a new and detailed account of a divine Christology that rests on Paul's account of the "Christ-relation" rather than on titular Christology or a few key passages. "The Christ-relation is Paul's divine Christology expressed as relationship" (244). Tilling adds, "the breadth and nature of the data gathered … show that Paul's Christ-relation language must be taken seriously, even if only because there is so much of it" (247).

This is the first Eerdmans edition of Tilling's 2012 WUNT volume (2/323), which itself was a lightly revised version of his PhD thesis written under the supervision of Max Turner at the London School of Theology. In this stimulating monograph, Tilling argues, in interaction (and basic agreement) with Hurtado, Bauckham, and Fee in particular, that a hitherto unappreciated constellation of features in Paul, and the way in which this constellation relates to the same constellation in ancient Judaism, reflects the most allembracing and fundamental category of Pauline Christology: the "Christ-relation." For Tilling, the Pauline "Christ-relation" is the "pattern of … language in Paul [that] is only that which a Jew used to express the relation between Israel/the individual Jew and YHWH" (73, emphasis original).

2023