(See larger photo)

Product Description

Most of Paul’s letters were written in the context of conflict with trouble-making opponents, but scholars disagree as to who those opponents were. Years ago F. C. Baur suggested that two competing missions—one headed by Paul, the other by James, Peter, and John—sent out a series of emissaries to win converts to the Christian faith. In Paul and the Competing Mission in Corinth Michael Goulder has examined Paul’s conflict with the counter-missionaries, especially as reflected in the Corinthian Letters, and has put a new spin on Baur’s theory. In this book, which is the culmination of decades of work, Goulder has painted a simple and convincing picture of the relationship between the mission of Paul and that of the counter-missionaries, whom he identifies as those evangelists sent by the “pillars” in Jerusalem. Goulder presents carefully assembled evidence in order to advance our picture of the early church and Paul’s place in it. His two-missions hypothesis amounts to a comprehensive theory of the origins of Christianity and the New Testament.

The Library of Pauline Studies is a series of books exploring key issues in Pauline and related studies. This series is edited by Stanley E. Porter, Principal, Dean, and Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Reviews

“In his many writings British scholar Michael Goulder has always proven to be something of a maverick, yet one whose erudition and clarity cannot be ignored. That is the case here in this work that attempts to situate Paul within the wider context of the early Christian mission. Goulder resurrects and modifies a thesis that F. C. Bauer first proposed in the nineteenth century, namely, that early Christianity was fueled by two “competing” missions—one led by James and the Jerusalem apostles, including Peter, that insisted on the strong Jewish character of Christianity and the necessity of abiding by the Jewish Law, and the other by Paul that championed a more liberal attitude that allowed the Gentiles to become Christian without having to adopt Jewish practice. While such tension is more apparent in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Goulder wants to demonstrate how it is also present, although more subtly, in Paul’s Letter to the Corinthian community. In Goulder’s view, the charismatic elements of the Corinthian community that Paul is concerned about represent a byproduct of this Jewish Christian wing of the Church.” —The Bible Today

Michael D. Goulder, Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Birmingham (retired), is the author of many books, including St. Paul versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions.

Explore This Book

The above links require the Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have the reader, click on the 'Get Acrobat Reader' button to obtain it.