Joseph Marchal: Studying Paul’s Letters

Joseph A. Marchal, ed., Studying Paul’s Letters: Contemporary Perspectives and Methods (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012), 248 pages, ISBN 9780800698188.

Introduction: Asking the Right Questions by Joseph A. Marchal.

This provocative book has been formatted by Joseph Marchal to make available the latest and most relevant critical perspectives on Paul to students in seminaries, small liberal-arts colleges, and universities. To achieve this goal, he has put together a remarkable group of outstanding Pauline scholars, and begins by posing and addressing the question of why anyone would study Paul. Traditionally, people have sought answers from Paul to questions about widespread issues such as women in leadership, slavery, gays, Jews, foreigners, pagans, the poor, children, and even the government. Marchal proposes to challenge readers to think in different ways about how to approach Paul, not only within the context of his own time, but in relation to our own world. According to Marchal, these critical perspectives can make us more savvy about the dynamics of our world and our application of Paul’s letters to it (2).

Marchal limits his study of Paul to what he calls the “authentic” letters of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon (3). Thus, he does not address why these are authentic and the others are not. He also accepts these letters as reflecting the linguistic influences of Hellenization with its widespread cultural practices, rhetorical presentations, and argumentation (4). Also assumed is that Paul’s letters were written at specific times, in response to particular situations, rather than being theological treatises or historical records (4-5).

Marchal’s goal is not simply to pass along information, but “to encourage a more critical and creative formation and even a transformation in how people negotiate their contexts” (8). This book certainly includes the latest trends in Pauline studies (9). Some approaches overlap, resonating and conversing with one another. Taken together, they clearly present the relevant issues, concepts, and practices for the various methods, and at the end of each chapter, include a demonstration of the application of amethod to a particular Pauline passage. Each chapter concludes with annotated selections for further reading.

Each chapter is written by a scholar who is both an expert in a selected method and an excellent teacher.

The individual essays begin with Melanie Johnson-Debaufre’s Historical Approaches: Which Past? Whose Past? She considers the nature of current biblical studies as characterized by “multiplicity and possibility,” and frames three basic principles which help to “reorient how we might approach history in relation to the letters of Paul” (15):

1. “Language does not describe or reflect reality, it creates and shapes reality” (15).
2. “What we see depends on where we stand” (16).
3. “History is an interpretation of the past, not the past itself” (17).

Johnson-Debaufre also suggests three corrective trends in Pauline studies which should be taken into account:

1. Paul should be de-Christianized, that is, he should be considered as a Jew within Judaism (18) rather than a convert to Christianity.
2. Paul should be politicized, that is, he should be read in terms of politics and economics rather than religion (20).
3. Paul should be de-centered, that is, he should be seen as only one part of the history of the early church rather than as the center of the movement (22-3).

In Chapter 2, Rhetorical Approaches: Introducing the Art of Persuasion in Paul and Pauline Studies, Todd Penner and Davina C. Lopez show the significance of understanding rhetorical strategies of ancient times when reading Paul: rhetoric pervades every aspect of our lives as well as those of ancient times. Arguments are persuasive depending on their relationships within the contexts and world-views of the times in which they were written. Hence, only by understanding how Paul’s arguments operated in the broader philosophical, social, and cultural environments of his time can the reader hope similarly to engage and apply these arguments to our world (49). Studying Paul is ultimately not about recovering a theology or an ideology, rather it is about “studying ourselves”, about using rhetorical analyses to better understand our world, not his. (50).

These authors apply this approach to the Philippians Hymn, Philip. 2:6-11.

According to Laura S. Nasralleh (Chapter 3, Spatial Perspectives: Space and Archaeology in Roman Philippi), place and space matter, that is, where the letters were written to and from, as well as where the recipients lived, impacts their theological, social, and economic selves – as well as ourselves as current readers. In addition, the perspective of power in place and space leads to a different understanding and meaning of the texts. She illustrates this in her treatment of the example of Roman Philippi.

In chapter 4 (Economic Strategies: Scarce Resources and Interpretative Opportunities), Peter Oakes shows that the economic status of Paul’s readers sheds light on the meaning of the letters (77).

He suggests three possible approaches for reading the text:

1. Economics as the analytic framework for interpretation.
2. Economics as the aim of interpretation.
3. Economics as provider of resources for interpretation.

He demonstrates these approaches on Romans 12:60.

Davina C. Lopez in Chapter 5 (Visual Perspectives: Imag(in)ing the Biblical Pauline Picture), addresses the importance of visual perspective in the ancient as well as in our world. She suggests that because Biblical scholarship has focused on the ancient world as primarily literary, the value of the visual perspective has been overlooked. She states, “I suggest taking seriously the reality that images are not just to be looked at or used but are readable in their own right as a form of language – after all, what are words but strings of symbols, small images about which we are all trained, from an early age, to make sense” (101). Images articulate human relationships and reality and hence constitute a “complementary system to literary remains”. (101). Davina demonstrates what this would look like by treating Galatians 4:21-5:1.

Cynthia Briggs Kitteridge (Chapter 6, Feminist Approaches: Rethinking History and Resisting Ideologies) defines feminism as “a movement to end sexism, sexual exploitation and oppression” (117). She takes as a starting point “a commitment to the well-being of all women.” (119). She agrees with Johnson-Debaufre that Paul and his community were not the center of the church as implied in Acts, but represents only one component of the early church movement. Hence, the Pauline letters indicate only one perspective on women. She uses Romans 8:14-39 as an example to demonstrate the different understanding of the text which emerges from this rhetorical approach.

In Chapter 7 (Jewish Perspectives: A Jewish Apostle to the Gentiles), Pamela Eisenbaum describes the “revolution in Pauline studies” which sees Paul as transformed by a prophetic call to the Gentiles rather than as a convert to Christianity from Judaism. This changes Paul’s apparent “anti-Jewish stance” and message of hatred of Judaism to an emphasis on hope and inclusion of the Gentiles into God’s plan. This means that Paul is functioning as a Jew with a powerful apocalyptic message to the gentiles that God is finally including them in his apocalyptic plan and promise for the end times. This is rooted in the promise given to Abraham by God, that at the end of time, the nations would be gathered to and be blessed by Israel. Eisenbaum shows how this perspective significantly impacts the interpretation of passages such as Galatians 3:1-14.

In Chapter 8, (African-American Approaches: Rehumanzing the Reader against Racism and Reading Through Experience) Demetrius K. Williams explores and describes 5 goals of African-American hermeneutics:

1. To demonstrate racism in the history of biblical interpretation.
2. To expose racism in this history.
3. To examine and explore the tradition and history of biblical interpretation in this community.
4. To suggest a strategy for reading biblical texts.
5. To develop a “radical orientation toward or even rejection of traditional interpretation.”
6. The last point, in particular, calls for a focus on the “socio-religious-political orientation” associated with scripture rather than the usual emphasis on content-meaning. (159).

This is an ideological approach to reading biblical texts shared by other “marginal readings” such as feminist, postcolonial, and queer approaches (159).

Williams illustrates this approach on Philemon.

In Chapter 9 (Asian American Perspectives: Ambivalence of the Model Minority and Perpetual Foreigner), Sze-Ku Wan identifies the issue of relation in a dominant culture, calling it the twin myths of model minority and perpetual foreigner (180), providing a pre-understanding of Paul in a similar situation which “enables us to approach the biblical text with boldness and humility” (181). Wan demonstrates this approach on Galatians.

Jeremy Punt sets forth a critical theory of interpretation (Chapter 10, Postcolonial Approaches: Negotiating Empires Then and Now), exploring “the uneven and complex power relations that result from imperialism, colonialism, and other forms of marginalization” (192). Punt introduces two important aspects of this approach: a) the examination of writing from the marginalized people themselves; and b) the search for alternative and counter-readings of biblical texts which “like other resistance readings, complicate and fracture the received interpretation and refuse to adopt a simple and single reflection on reality” (195).

Punt’s example is on Thessalonians 4-5.

Chapter 11 (Queer Approaches: Improper Relations with Pauline Letters), by Joseph A. Marchal concludes the collection of essays. Marchal proposes a unique definition of queer, that is, as an umbrella term for “odd, abnormal, or perverse” (210). He suggests that it should indicate a “challenge to regimes of the normal, a desire to resist and contest such a worldview” (210). It is a disposition rather than an identity. Basing this strategy on Foucault and Butler, Marchal suggests that queer theories of nature “challenge the foundation through which arguments and claims to identity, authority or power proceed” (212).

Marchal considers his queer-resistant approach in relation to two other more traditional approaches which rely on a more authoritative perspective of the text.

1. The historical contextual approach.
2. The apologist affirmative approach.

In short, according to Marchal, queer approaches start with contesting and interpreting normalization, and provide, “a supple cipher for what stands over against the normal and the natural to oppose and thereby define, them, and what inheres within the normal and the natural to subvert , and indeed pervert them” (218).

Marchal’s illustration is Galatians 4. This chapter appropriately concludes the collection since it summarizes some of the common features to these approaches, especially the feminist, postcolonial, African-American, and Asian-American.

Marchal has certainly succeeded in his goal of challenging the reader to consider approaches that call for a critical and reflective engagement with the letters of Paul in a new way. While these do not directly dismiss or attack more traditional or confessional methods, they do introduce the reader to new perspectives and approaches. While the presentations are not user-friendly in that they require advanced hermeneutical skills to put them into practice, they are clearly described and explained in terms of the area of current biblical studies, followed by a demonstration on a Pauline passage and a selection of relevant readings.

Besides suggesting different perspectives on Paul’s writings, these essays encourage the development of thinking and reading skills which enable readers to engage their own world and culture in a new and fresh way.

The essays generally present these new methods in a non-threatening and constructive manner, but they may still provide a challenge to the evangelical scholar who may only be familiar with traditional hermeneutical approaches to the text. This is truly a new perspective on Paul. But can Paul now mean almost anything? With this approach, can the reader determine what Paul says at all? Or has his message become so flexible that it fluctuates according to the times? Does this means that we interpret Paul in light of our current world situations rather than the reverse?

The excellence of the questions brought forward by the approaches in Studying Paul’s Letters is commendable, even if one does not agree with the assumptions inherent in these.

Reviewed by Rebecca Skaggs

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