Strawbridge - THE PAULINE EFFECT: The Use of the Pauline Epistles by Early Christian Writers

Jennifer R. Strawbridge
The Pauline Effect

Studies of the Bible and Its Reception

Edited by
Dale C. Allison, Jr., Christine Helmer,
Thomas Rmer, Choon-Leong Seow,
Barry Dov Walfish, Eric Ziolkowski

Volume 5

Winner of the 2014 SBLDe Gruyter Prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History

ISBN 978-3-11-043770-6
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-044654-8
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-044546-6
ISSN 2195-450X

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A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de .

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www.degruyter.com

It is a delight to offer thanks to those who have made this study possible. This work began life as a doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford, where I benefitted greatly from the support and communities of Keble College and the Faculty of Theology and Religion. For the outstanding instruction and support of my supervisors, Professor Christopher Rowland and Professor Teresa Morgan, I am especially grateful. Their encouragement, scholarship, persistence, challenging conversation, and careful reading of innumerable drafts shaped this project immensely. I only hope that in my own vocation I can imitate a small part of their pedagogical care, grace, and whole-hearted investment. Professor Alexandra Brown first introduced me to the study of the New Testament and Professor Christopher Beeley to the study of Patristics, and to both of them I am forever indebted and grateful. Moreover, they have served as mentors and conversation partners on this journey, offering significant encouragement. I have also benefitted from the suggestions of those who read and commented on substantial parts or even the whole of this study at different stages: Professor Alexandra Brown, Professor Edwin Craun, Marlys Craun, Professor David Lincicum, Dr Ian Boxall, Kylie Crabbe, Dr Sarah Apetrei, Dr Mary Marshall, Dr Benjamin Edsall, the SBL-DeGruyter Prize committee, and an anonymous reviewer. I am also grateful to Megan Kearney for her vital assistance with the index. My examiners, Professor Mark Edwards and Professor Judith Kovacs, provided helpful questions and challenging criticisms for further reflection and offered much encouragement not only in the examination but also in conversations that have followed. No doubt all those named will find something with which to disagree and I am sure I have fallen short of their suggestions in many places, but I hope they realise how much this project owes to them.

This study was also enabled by generous financial support from a number of organizations. The support of St Marys Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia set me on my feet in Oxford, along with awards from Keble College, the Faculty of Theology and Religion, and the Bampton Trust. Colleagues at Keble offered invaluable support, including sabbatical leave in Trinity Term 2013 for which I am unspeakably grateful, especially to the Governing Body, the Advowsons Committee, the Revd Robert Grimley, the Revd Darren McFarland, as well as the many students who gave of their time and gifts and enabled the Chapel community at the College to flourish. Grants from Sons and Friends of the Clergy and the English Clergy Association allowed me to spend much of my sabbatical leave ensconced in the Widener Library at Harvard, and the warm hospitality, kindness, conversation, and endearing friendship of the Brothers of the Society of St John the Evangelist offered the space for me to complete a draft in Cambridge, Mass.

Earlier portions of chapter 2 first appeared in Studia Patristica (vol. XLIII; Leuven: Peeters Press, 2013) and a portion of chapter 5 was among material I contributed to a jointly authored paper with Benjamin Edsall in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament , 2015, vol 37 (3). I am grateful for the opportunity to reprint some of that material here. I am also thankful to DeGruyter and the Society of Biblical Literature for creating a prize for Biblical Studies and Reception History and for their work to increase the visibility of reception history within the wider academic community. Thank you to the SBL-DeGruyter Prize committee for their encouragement and for awarding a prize that would lead to this publication and to Albrecht Dhnert and Alissa Jones Nelson at De Gruyter for accepting this work. I am particularly grateful to Sophie Wagenhofer, Angelika Hermann, and the editorial team at De Gruyter for their expert guidance throughout the process of publication.

A number of friends and colleagues have been willing to share their time and ideas with me, helping to clarify much of my thinking. Without their support, my life and this study would be much the worse. Dr Bronwyn Johnston walked the length of the dissertation with me, including numerous study excursions, and especially helping in the final weeks of revision and editing with a red pen and boundless humour and tea. Dr Sarah Apetrei, Dr Mary Marshall, and Kylie Crabbe all made suggestions and critiques that improved this work and served as a sounding board and conversation partners throughout. I am grateful for their thought-provoking conversation, careful reading, and cherished friendship. Numerous friends, teachers, and colleagues also offered support through the platforms of the Oxford New Testament, Reception History, and Patristics Seminars, including but not limited to Professor John Muddiman, Professor Markus Bockmuehl, Dr Nick King, Dr Christopher Hays, Nicholas Moore, Benjamin Edsall, Jonathan Downing, Simon Cuff, and Peter Anthony. Alongside these friends and colleagues, the prayers, friendship, and encouragement of Peter and Bea Groves, Jonathan and Amanda Phillips, a clergy colleague group, Melissa and David Cox, the Keble College Chapel community, Richard Metzger, Eric and Cara Strawbridge, and Craig and Sue Strawbridge engenders a debt of gratitude that will not be forgotten. Ultimately, this is for my grandmother Ruth, who in her 100 th year was clear that we always needed a minister and a doctor in the family. For her confidence, encouragement, love, and humour, I am most grateful.

Jennifer R. Strawbridge
Oxford
St Matthew, 2015

All Scripture is divinely inspired and useful for teaching, for reproving,
and for instruction in righteousness .

The concluding words of the second letter of Peter include a reflection on our beloved brother Paul who wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters (2 Pet 3.15). Considered one of the last canonical texts written, the Petrine epistles final words underscore an early understanding of Paul as one who is wise and the authoritative status of his letters. But what is the influence of the Pauline epistles more broadly in early Christianity? How are the wisdom of Paul and the authority of his letters claimed by the earliest Christian writers?

In this study, I explore the use of Paul and his letters by early Christian writers of the first three centuries and examine how their interpretation of Pauls words contributes to our understanding of Christian formation. Certainly lists have been produced before this project that tell us which books of the New Testament were most utilised within a specific time period. But unlike the chapters that follow, these lists do not include the detail of specific verses nor have they moved beyond the level of asking questions about why such frequently occurring texts might be important to study.