“Remain in Your Calling”: Paul and the Continuation of Social Identities in 1 Corinthians
Ebook
Overview
Remain in Your Calling explores the way the Apostle Paul negotiates and transforms existing social identities of the Corinthian Christ-followers in order to extend his gentile mission. Building on the findings of Tucker’s first monograph, You Belong to Christ: Paul and the Formation of Social Identity in 1 Corinthians 1-4, this work expands the focus to the rest of 1 Corinthians. The study addresses the way Paul forms Christ-movement identity and the kind of identity that emerges from his kinship formation. It examines the way previous Jewish and gentile social identities continue but are also transformed “in Christ.” It then provides case studies from 1 Corinthians that show the way social-scientific criticism and ancient source material provide insights concerning Paul’s formational goals. The first looks at the way Roman water practices and patronage influence baptismal practices in Corinth. The next uncovers the challenges associated with the transformation of the Roman household when it functions as sacred space within the ekklesia. The final study investigates the way Paul uses apocalyptic discourse to recontextualize the Corinthians’ identity in order to remind them that God, rather than the Roman Empire, is in control of history.
”In this in-depth study of the formation of social identities,
Tucker steps carefully but with an easy confidence through the maze
of theoretical approaches. His assessment of differing stances is
astute, well informed, and fair. In conversation with a vast array
of literature, and in careful negotiation with the text of the New
Testament, he offers a fascinating introduction to Paul’s approach
to the formation of social identities that is unlikely soon to be
surpassed."
--William S. Campbell
Reader in Biblical Studies
University of Wales, Trinity St. David
“J. Brian Tucker has produced an impressive study in one of the
most important and exiting areas of Pauline scholarship: the
construction of Christian identity. Tucker’s suggestion that Paul
transforms, rather than creates, existing social identities without
obliterating the original ones is highly convincing and moves the
discussion significantly forward. This is an indispensable work for
scholars of early Christianity and foundational for students of the
formation of the early Christ movement."
--Magnus Zetterholm
Associate Professor of New Testament Studies
Lund University
Remain in Your Calling is an important contribution to Pauline
studies, and Tucker’s conclusions are especially relevant for
Messianic Judaism. His research confirms much of the work being
done by Messianic Jewish scholars like David Rudolph and Mark
Kinzer, while
shedding important new light on the critical area of Jewish-Gentile
relations in the early church. As Messianic Jews and Hebrew Roots
proponents continue to debate the role of Jew and Gentile within
the body of Messiah, they would do well to take Tucker’s work into
consideration.
-- Jacob Fronczaak, as reviewed in Messiah Journal
Product Details
- Title : “Remain in Your Calling”: Paul and the Continuation of Social Identities in 1 Corinthians
- Author: Tucker, J. Brian
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Publication Date: 2011
- ISBN: 9781630875978