Paul and Epistolary Masculinity? (original) (raw)
Related papers
Mr Paul: Masculinity and Paul’s self-presentation (2 Cor 10–13)
(Note error in title: not 1 Cor 11-13 but 2 Cor 10-13) Notwithstanding all the corporeal and gendered language in the Pauline letters, the apostle’s bodiliness and masculinity so far has received little attention. In the 1st-century context masculinity reigned by default and provides the contemporary context for teasing out the corporeal and gendered overtones in the Pauline letters, especially in Paul’s self-presentation. Recent and intersecting masculinity studies, body theology and queer theory provide useful tools for engaging Paul as man and his bodily-focussed, gendered approach in his letters. A focus on both Paul as embodied man and his corporeal, gendered approach enable alternative readings of his letters’ concern with corporeality and the related relationships between bodies, power and life in the communities he addressed.
Mr Paul: Masculinity and Paul’s self-presentation (1 Cor 11–13)
In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi, 2016
Notwithstanding all the corporeal and gendered language in the Pauline letters, the apostle’s bodiliness and masculinity so far has received little attention. In the 1st-century context masculinity reigned by default and provides the contemporary context for teasing out the corporeal and gendered overtones in the Pauline letters, especially in Paul’s self-presentation. Recent and intersecting masculinity studies, body theology and queer theory provide useful tools for engaging Paul as man and his bodily-focussed, gendered approach in his letters. A focus on both Paul as embodied man and his corporeal, gendered approach enable alternative readings of his letters’ concern with corporeality and the related relationships between bodies, power and life in the communities he addressed.
2015
The apostle Paul’s presentation of his own physical body within the Corinthian correspondence functions as a gender-nuanced argument for authoritative leadership that mirrors the humiliated and shameful glory of the crucified Christ. Paul is committed to exercising his authority only in keeping with weakness, lack of rhetorical power, and feminized shame. He boasts that his own servile and feminizing sufferings are patterned after those of Christ. Even the apostle’s apparently glorious experiences are accompanied by the infliction of suffering and the removal of an ability or right to speak. Lastly, his Sinai account demonstrates that even Paul’s boast of open speech and self-disclosure is implicated in a feminizing act of unveiling his own shame and weakness. Even as he argues for his superiority to Moses on the basis of what at first glance appears to be a masculine apostolic boldness, the apostle’s status is called into question. For his boldness and openness of self-presentation...
Paul's Defense: Masculinity and Authority in 2 Corinthians 10-13
Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2021
In 2 Cor. 10-13, Paul tries to prove his authority as a reliable leader by using two different masculinity standards. Paul manifests his power and control over the Corinthian church members by using an image of paterfamilias (11.2-3; 12.14). Paternal control of others was an essential element of hegemonic masculinity in the Greco-Roman world. Moreover, Paul proves his manliness by revealing his endurance and submission to divine authority (11.21b-12.10) according to the Hellenistic Jewish masculinity. I argue that Paul is embedded in these different cultural assumptions regarding masculinity and that he refers to these assumptions to persuade Gentile and Jewish groups in the Corinthian church.
In the Book of Acts, Luke adapts masculinity according to different narrative contexts, and in the process, ultimately ends up destabilizing masculine norms. To demonstrate Luke’s depiction of an adaptable, yet destabilizing, masculinity, this article focuses on two key episodes involving Paul: (1) Paul’s conversion as recounted in Acts 9, 22, and 26, and (2) Paul’s transition from “Saul” to “Paul” in Acts 13 and its early reception history. In this brief foray into Acts and beyond, we shall see that, according to Luke, being a “man” of God involves reneging self-control and serving a persecuted “Lord.”