Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
The Messenger
Associate’s Message
Paul Among the People
During this past summer, a determined, thoughtful and
patient group of parishioners grappled with N.T. Wright’s provocative – and
sometimes exasperating – book, After You
Believe. In this book, Wright
argues that the early Christians introduced a new ethical system and, in fact,
a new way of being human. Although Christian ethics and morality shares a
passing resemblance to some classical philosophy, Wright insists that
Christianity was wildly countercultural in the First Century, introducing
notions like the precious value of every human life – and inspiring
early followers of Jesus to sacrifice themselves for people unrelated and
unknown to them, and who could offer nothing in return.
Wright bolsters his argument by quoting Christian Scripture,
especially texts written by St. Paul, or written in his name. After Jesus, Paul
is widely considered to be the most important and influential person in
Christian history. After his dramatic conversion experience, this ex-Pharisee
not only quit persecuting followers of Jesus but he spent the rest of his life
traveling around the Mediterranean world telling people the Good News of Christ.
Paul started congregations, squabbled with other disciples, suffered ridicule,
arrests, beatings and ultimately martyrdom. And, of course, Paul wrote letters, at least some of which
survived and eventually were incorporated into the Christian Bible, making him
the best-represented author in the New Testament.
Paul wrote his letters to specific communities in response
to particular pastoral issues. Sometimes we are not entirely clear what those
issues were since, unfortunately, we have only one side of the correspondence. Although
he seems to have had a very healthy ego, undoubtedly Paul would be shocked to
learn that his letters have been considered sacred for two millennia.
Paul would probably also be shocked by his reputation among
many Christians today. My sense is that two things most commonly come to mind when
– or if - we think of Paul. First we think of his familiar ode to love in First
Corinthians, a passage often read weddings: “Love is patient; love is kind;
love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.” Second, today many people
(including many committed Christians) think of Paul as the person largely
responsible for twisting Jesus’ inclusive message of love and forgiveness into
what they perceive as a rigid religion obsessed with rules, sexuality and
patriarchy.
More than once during the summer we lamented that we didn’t
know enough about the classical world or enough about Paul to evaluate Wright’s
claims. Just how different were Christians from everybody else? Just how
different was the message proclaimed by Paul from the teachings of others in
the First Century?
In part to answer those questions, this fall everyone is
invited to read and discuss Sarah Ruden’s book, Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His
Own Time. (You can find out details about the group on page X of The Messenger.) Ruden is a classicist
best known for her translations of ancient literature including The Aeneid. She uses her deep knowledge
of ancient literature and culture to place Paul in his First Century context.
Employing a witty and accessible style, Ruden takes a fresh look at what Paul
has to say about pleasure, homosexuality, women, government, slavery, and love.
She contrasts Paul’s thought with what other writers were presenting at around
the same time.
Thinking about Paul in his First Century context is not just
an interesting historical exercise, however. Looking back at Paul among the
people of his time just might prompt us to reflect on the counter-cultural
nature of Christianity in our own time. After all, like Paul, we live in a
society that reduces many human beings from beloved children of God to mere
objects for pleasure or use of others. Like Paul, we live in a society that
celebrates and even, in a sense, worships individual material success without
also expecting and celebrating a commitment to the common good. Like Paul, we
live in a society that shows little concern about the increasingly desperate
plight of the poor.
As someone who gave away his life to follow Jesus and who
offered a radically different way of life, Paul still has some important things
to say to us today.
This fall I hope you will give Paul Among the People a try and (re-)discover this essential, fascinating,
complex, puzzling and courageous apostle.
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