BOOKS - The Apostle to the Foreskin: Circumcision in the Letters of Paul (Beihefte zu...
The Apostle to the Foreskin: Circumcision in the Letters of Paul (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft Book 259) - Ryan D. Collman June 6, 2023 PDF  BOOKS
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The Apostle to the Foreskin: Circumcision in the Letters of Paul (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft Book 259)
Author: Ryan D. Collman
Year: June 6, 2023
Format: PDF
File size: PDF 2.6 MB
Language: English

This volume offers a comprehensive examination of circumcision and foreskin in the undisputed Pauline epistles. Historically, Paul's discourse on circumcision has been read through the lens of Paul's supposed abandonment of Judaism and conversion to 'Christianity.' Recent scholarship on Paul, however, has challenged the idea that Paul ever abandoned Judaism. In the context of this revisionist reading of Paul, Ryan Collman argues that Paul never repudiates, redefines, or replaces circumcision. Rather, Paul's discourse on circumcision (and foreskin) is shaped by his understanding of ethnicity and his bifurcation of humanity into the categories of Jews and the nations - the circumcision and the foreskin. Collman argues that Paul does not deny the continuing validity (and importance) of circumcision for Jewish followers of Jesus, but categorically refuses that gentile believers can undergo circumcision. By reading this language in its historical, rhetorical, epistolary, and ethnic contexts, Collman offers a number of new readings of difficult Pauline texts (e.g., Rom 4:9-12; Gal 5:1-4; Phil 3:2-3).