Paul, the Cross-shaped Church and its Mission (BN9009W)

Content

This unit will examine the call of the church to participate in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus according to Paul’s letters. The students will study key passages in Romans, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians and other Pauline letters concerning the call of the church to be conformed to the crucified Christ. The unit will explore the concept of participation in Christ and its interrelationship with the mission of the first-century house churches in the Pauline corpus. It will specifically study the outworking of the corporate life of cruciform multicultural Christ-communities, which includes hospitality, economic justice, peace-making, faithful witness, and the embodiment of the justice of God in the context of the Roman Empire and the world today.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Foundation unit in New Testament (BN8001W or equivalent)

Pedagogy

Lectures and class discussion

Indicative Bibliography

• Blackwell, Ben C. Christosis: Pauline Soteriology in Light of Deification in Irenaeus and Cyril of Alexandria. WUNT 2.314. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011.
• Campbell, Constantine R. Paul and Union with Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.
• Davey, Wesley Thomas. Suffering as Participation with Christ in the Pauline Corpus. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Academic, 2019.
• Gorman, Michael J. Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001.
• Gorman, Michael J. Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015.
• Gorman, Michael J. Participation in Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019.
• Hooker, Morna D. From Adam to Christ: Essays on Paul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
• Hooker, Morna D., and Frances M. Young. Holiness and Mission: Learning from the Early Church About Mission in the City. London: SCM Press, 2010.
• Macaskill, Grant. Union with Christ in the New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
• Wu, Siu Fung, ed. Suffering in Paul. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2019.

Assessment