Description
F.C. Baur’s monumental study Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ (1845) is one of the greatest works of all time on the Apostle to the Gentiles. Laying the basis for modern Pauline scholarship, its three sections in turn thoroughly deconstruct the account of Paul found in Acts, examine the authentic, deuteron-Pauline and Pastoral Epistles, and draw the various strands of Paul’s thought into a cohesive whole. In the first two parts Baur’s historical-critical skills are at their finest, while in the third the influence of Hegel and Schleiermacher can be seen as Baur presents a comprehensive synthesis of Pauline theology.
Since the original nineteenth-century English translation of Baur’s masterpiece is no longer adequate, Hodgson and Brown’s new edition will serve as the definitive resource for future scholarship. They not only present a new translation of the German, but also provide critical annotations and translations of all the scriptural passages originally quoted in Greek. Baur on Paul becomes truly available in English for the first time.
About the Author
Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792-1860) was Professor of Theology at the University of Tübingen and the greatest historical theologian of the nineteenth century, writing seminal studies in the history of religions, New Testament, church history, and history of doctrine.
Peter C. Hodgson is Charles G. Finney Professor of Theology Emeritus at the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University. He has specialized in works by Baur and Hegel, as well as in contemporary issues of constructive theology.
Robert F. Brown is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Delaware. He has specialized in the history of philosophy and the philosophy of religion, with a focus on German idealism.
Contents
Editor’s Foreword
Zeller’s Foreword to the Second Edition
Baur’s Preface to the First Edition
Baur’s Introduction
Part One: The Life and Activity of the Apostle Paul
1. The Jerusalem Community before the Apostle’s Conversion
2. Stephen the Precursor of the Apostle Paul
3. The Conversion of the Apostle Paul
4. The Apostle Paul’s First Missionary Journey
5. Transactions between the Apostle Paul and the Earlier Apostles in Jerusalem
6. The Second Missionary Journey of the Apostle
7. The Apostle Paul in Athens, Corinth, Ephesus; His Journey to Jerusalem through Miletus
8. The Apostle’s Arrest in Jerusalem
9. The Apostle Paul in Rome; His Imprisonment and Martyrdom
Part Two: The Epistles of the Apostle Paul
Introduction
1. The Epistle to the Galatians
2. The Two Epistles to the Corinthians
3. The Epistle to the Romans
4. The Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians
5. The Epistle to the Philippians
Supplement
6. The Epistle to Philemon
7. The Two Epistles to the Thessalonians
8. The Pastoral Epistles
9. General Remarks about the Deutero-Pauline Epistles
Part Three: The Apostle Paul’s Theological Framework
Introduction
Note by Eduard Zeller
1. The Principle of Christian Consciousness
2. The Doctrine of Justification: The Negative Aspect
3. The Doctrine of Justification: The Positive Aspect
4. Christ as the Principle of the Community He Founded
5. Christianity’s Relation to Judaism and to Paganism
6. Christianity as a New Principle of World-Historical Development
7. Faith, Love, and Hope, as the Three Elements of Christian Consciousness
8. A Separate Discussion of a Few Related Dogmatic Issues
9. A Few of the Apostle’s Individual Characteristics
Appendix
1. The Literature of the Peter-Legend
2. Comparison of the Pauline Doctrine of Justification with That of James
3. The Two Epistles to the Thessalonians
Index of Persons
Index of Subjects
Endorsements and Reviews
The monumental retrieval of Baur through greatly improved (and some new) English translations reaches a high point in this edition of his 1845 Paul. His critical analysis of Acts has survived best, but the pioneer’s insights and mistakes about the shorter epistles both remain instructive, and his Hegel-influenced interpretation of Paul’s theology is still suggestive. Reflection on both the history of biblical interpretation and the place of philosophy in theological interpretation stand to be stimulated by this refurbished classic, again very helpfully introduced by Professor Hodgson.
Robert Morgan, University of Oxford
F.C. Baur’s book on Paul is one of the classics of biblical scholarship and perhaps his best individual work. Peter Hodgson and Robert Brown are to be congratulated on this excellent new translation which provides readers of English with a reliable and elegant text.
Johannes Zachhuber, University of Oxford
Brown and Hodgson’s fresh and deeply learned translation of Ferdinand Christian Baur’s masterpiece, Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, invites – and permits – us to revisit Baur’s claim of the centrality of Paul’s conversion to the making of Gentile Christianity. It comes at just the right moment, when the meanings – and politics – of conversion, for persons and communities, are once again the focus of intense debate across the disciplines.
Christine Helmer, Northwestern University
Ferdinand Christian Baur’s Paul is an outstanding milestone in modern New Testament scholarship. The editors provide a clear translation with helpful annotations. With their concise introduction, they give us much support to understand Baur’s interpretation of Paul’s theology. Baur deals with topics of Pauline theology that are still discussed today. The editors show us Baur as a great, critical, and contemporary Pauline exegete. The spirit of freedom in Baur’s book is revealed through this edition.
Christof Landmesser, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
