Session 1: Paul within Paganism
Hongchang Cho, University of Aberdeen, ‘γράμμα and πνεῦμα, and Paul’s Power Politics in Romans 2:25–29’
This analysis will engage substantively with Alexander Chantziantoniou’s ‘Paul’s Iconopolemic’. Building on his proposal and thesis, I argue that Paul uses ‘Power Politics’ to critique the interlocutor’s potentially superficial Jewish identity in Romans 2:25–29, thereby extending ‘Identity Politics’, as Chantziantoniou argues. Paul’s distinction between γράμμα and πνεῦμα highlights the misplaced focus on the Torah rather than on Christ, fitting the ‘Power Politics’ framework that Chantziantoniou laid out. Initially, I will focus on the Torah’s emergence as the iconic text of God’s presence, thereby solidifying Jewish identity in the Mediterranean, as Joachim Schaper observes. Then, I will analyse 2 Corinthians 3-4, where the contrast between γράμμα and πνεῦμα is associated with ‘the god of this world’ and with the icon of God, Christ, respectively. This sheds light on Paul’s ‘Power Politics’ at play against Paganism and Judaism in the Mediterranean, demonstrating how fixating on γράμμα can border on idolatry. This approach prevents conflating the ethnicity of Jews and Gentiles by avoiding labels that equate them with idolatry, while emphasising their shared human plight.
Andrew Perriman, London School of Theology, ‘In the Form of One of the Pagan Gods’
It has been very difficult to account for Paul’s assertion in Philippians 2:6 that Christ Jesus
was “in the form of God” (en morphē theou), as it is usually translated, on Jewish terms—
though not for want of scholars trying. But the fascination of the Greek mind with the morphai that the gods might take is abundantly evidenced in literature, myth and propaganda. The Paul within Paganism conversation now provides an emerging methodological framework within which to test the idea that the opening of the encomium presents a lively, pagan perspective on the baffling career of Jesus, who began as a charismatic wonder-worker “in the form of a god” (en morphē theou), did not seize the Satanic offer of a god-equal rule over the nations, emptied himself of selfish ambition in the wilderness, and turned out to be anything but immortal, dying on a Roman cross. I will argue that there are strong intertextual grounds already in Hellenistic Judaism and in the New Testament to support such a contrary paraphrasing of the narrative.
Crispin Fletcher-Louis, University of Gloucestershire, ‘Christology and Paul’s Anticipation of Christianity’s Ontological Revolution’
This paper proceeds from a summary of the principal Christological arguments of C. Fletcher-Louis, The Divine Heartset: Paul’s Philippians Christ Hymn … (2023), to set out four kinds of reason to think that, for Paul in Philippians, the revelation of the divine Christ has brought about a new metaphysical and social reality of worldwide, historic, significance. This conclusion arises from: 1. The way in which the Christ hymn and the letter are simultaneously indebted to Israel’s scriptures as much as they are affirmative of diverse pagan traditions; 2. Odd and semantically pregnant Greek, especially at key moments in the argument (e.g. Phil 2:4, 6, 9–11); 3. The creative combination of discrete and previously opposed categories and discourses in a way that foreshadows the “ontological revolution” (in the understanding of the nature of reality, “God,” and the human person) of the coming centuries; 4. the evocation, in the Christ Hymn (2:6–11), of Greek and Roman foundation myths, in a way that claims for Christ followers an identity within a new trans-ethnic constitution.
Session 2
Zachary McNeal, University of Edinburgh, ‘Patron of Salvation: Pauline Associations, Divine Patronage and Christology in 1 Thessalonians’
Debates over divine Christology in Paul often focus on questions about Jesus’ pre-existence or his role as the Jewish Messiah and the degree to which a human could participate in divinity in early Judaism. In this paper, I will consider the questions of Paul’s Christology from a different angle, that of Christ’s role as a (divine) patron of salvation in the context of an ancient Graeco-Roman association. Focusing on 1 Thessalonians and building on the work of John Kloppenborg, Zeba Crook, and Richard Ascough, I will argue that Paul presents Christ (and God the Father) as the divine patrons of the Thessalonian ekklesia, with Paul functioning as their broker, and that this patronage entails changes to their cultic and ethical behavior in light of this patronage. This will add new dimensions to discussions of Pauline Christology by attending to the rhetoric of Paul’s message to an entirely Gentile audience.
John G. Varghese, Serampore College, ‘Re-Imagining Subversion in the Philippian Christological Hymn’
The Christological hymn in Philippians 2:6–11 remains one of the most discussed texts in New Testament scholarship. Commonly regarded as a rhythmically balanced Christological psalm that reflects a pre-Pauline tradition, the hymn narrates Christ’s pre-existence, incarnation, humiliation, and heavenly exaltation. Central to the passage is a dramatic reversal of status: Christ is described as doulos (slave) in striking contrast to kyrios (Lord). In the Greco-Roman world, titles such as kyrios, “Son of God,” and “Saviour” were frequently associated with the emperor. By attributing these titles to Jesus, Paul articulates a counter-imperial vision. The designation doulos represents the lowest social status and intensifies the contrast with kyrios and theos, thereby underscoring the depth of Christ’s kenosis. Employing the epistemological lens of the honour–shame model, this paper contends that, amid hostility, hardship, and social stigma, the Philippian community was invited to reclaim and sustain its identity. This invitation is articulated through Paul’s presentation of Christ’s status reversal as a theological paradigm for reconfiguring honour and shame.
Yousef Khasho, Vienna University, ‘Torah against Torah: Covenant Primacy and Gentile Inclusion in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians’
This paper re-examines the theology of Paul the Apostle in Galatians within a Greco-Roman context in which his Gentile audience lacked direct familiarity with the Jewish Scriptures. While they had encountered selected traditions, often mediated through missionary teaching and accompanied by pressures to adopt the law, Paul responds by reintroducing the Torah on his own terms. He engages the Torah against itself, arguing for the primacy of the covenant over the law. By rereading scriptural traditions in light of the Christ-event, Paul redefines covenant access as grounded in faith and participation in Christ rather than in the observance of the law. This hermeneutical strategy creates a point of contact between the Torah and a non-Jewish audience, translating intra-Jewish scriptural argumentation into a form intelligible within a Greco-Roman setting. Paul thus stages a Torah-based debate for listeners unfamiliar with it, while simultaneously reshaping their understanding of belonging through interpretive argumentation centered on Christ.
Session 3
Kate Bowen-Evans, Nazarene Theological College, University of Manchester, ‘Sidelined in the Body and by the Body: Re-reading 1 Corinthians 12:22–26 through an Ableist-Critical Lens’
This paper offers an ableist-critical reading of 1 Corinthians 12:22–26, exploring how the “body of Christ” metaphor exposes and resists hierarchies of embodiment. Ableism is understood broadly to include disability and the privileging of cisheteronormative bodies within interpretive frameworks. Such a hermeneutic re-centres the embodied experiences of disabled and LGBTQIA+ believers. Disability theology emphasised Paul’s claim that the “seemingly weaker” members are “indispensable” (v.22), yet this insight has not been consistently extended to other marginalised bodies. This paper argues that Paul’s resists such exclusions, claiming God has “composed the body” (v.24) so as to confer greater honour on those deemed “unpresentable” or lacking status. This divine inversion destabilises human systems of valuation and exposes problematic ecclesial hierarchies. The body metaphor thus functions not as a static description of unity but as a critical framework through which communities are called to examine their own practices of inclusion and exclusion.
Joshua Chan, University of Oxford, ‘Love Rejoices with the Truth: Identifying the Chiastic Climax of Love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a’
The encomium of love in 1 Cor 13:4–8a has long attracted scholarly attention, yet its structural center and rhetorical focal point remain contested. This paper reexamines the passage through a sustained analysis of its chiastic structure, employing rigorous and clearly defined criteria for identifying chiasmus. By reassessing the literary organization of 1 Cor 13:4–8a, this study illuminates the rhetorical sophistication of Paul’s prose and contributes to a more integrated reading of the encomium as a coherent literary unit. Against several existing proposals, this paper advances a new chiastic reading that more fully accounts for the passage’s lexical parallelisms, semantic contrasts, and rhythmic patterning. On this basis, it argues that the clause “love rejoices with the truth” functions as the chiastic climax of the passage. This finding has implications not only for the literary structure of 1 Cor 13 but also for its theological interpretation, suggesting that truth occupies a central place in Paul’s understanding of love.
George Ford, University of Oxford, ‘A New Paradigm for Understanding Paul’s Opponents in Galatia’
Scholarship on the letter to the Galatians has long maintained that a reconstruction of who was opposing Paul in Galatia is an important prerequisite to exegesis. Though there has been much disagreement about who these opponents were and what they thought, nonetheless it is assumed that in the letter we are hearing only one side of a conversation which we must reconstruct. This “ulterior conflict” paradigm, however, is not the only way of understanding Paul’s references to the opponents in Galatians. Here a new alternative paradigm, the “pastoral anxiety” paradigm, will be articulated and argued for with the help of a forgotten interpretation of Gal. 1:7 held by Erasmus and Cornelius A Lapide. According to this reading of Galatians, the opponents are not Paul’s indirect dialogue partners but an attempt by the apostle to explain the confounding behaviour of his flock: ‘Who has bewitched you?’ (Gal. 3:1).