A critical reconsideration of the repeated use of the biblical letters of Paul The letters of Paul have been used to support and condone a host of evils over the span of more than two millennia racism slavery imperialism misogyny and anti Semitism to name a few Despite or in some cases because of this history readers of Paul have felt compelled to reappropriate his letters to fit liberal or radical politics seeking to set right the evils done in Paul s name Starting with the language of excrement refuse and waste in Paul s letters Profaning Paul looks at how Paul s shit is recycled and reconfigured It asks why readers from liberal Christians to academic biblical scholars to political theorists and philosophers feel compelled to make Paul into a hero mining his words for wisdom Following the lead of feminist queer and minoritized scholarship Profaning Paul asks what would happen if we stopped recycling Paul s writings By profaning the status of his letters as sacred texts we might open up new avenues for imagining political figurations to meet our current and coming political economic and ecological challenges