Paul and the politics of difference
Subtitle: a contextual study of the Jewish-Gentile difference in Galatians and Romans
By: Jae Won Lee
Publisher: Pickwick Publications
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Eugene, Oregon
Language: eng
Number of pages: 192
ISBN-13: 9781625648242
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: Jews in the New Testament; Criticism, interpretation; Bible; Gentiles in the New Testament
Description: Paul lies at the core of the constant debate about the opposition between Christianity and Judaism in biblical interpretation and public discourse as well. The so-called new perspective on Paul has not offered a significant break from the formidable paradigm of Christian universalism vs. Jewish particularism in Pauline scholarship. This book seeks to liberate Paul from the Western logic of identity and its dominant understanding of difference, which tend to identify Pauline Christianity as its ally. Drawing attention to the currency of discourses on difference in contemporary theories as well as in biblical studies, the author critically examines the hermeneutical relevance of a contextual and relational understanding of difference and applies it to interpret the dynamics of Jew-Gentile difference reflected particularly in meal practices (Galatians 2:1-21 and Romans 14:1--15:13) of early Christian communities. This book argues that by deconstructing the hierarchy of social relations underlying the Jew-Gentile difference in different community situations, Paul promotes a politics of difference, which affirms a preferential option for the socially "weak," that is, solidarity with the weak. Paul's politics of difference is invoked as a liberative potential for the vision of egalitarian justice in the face of contemporary globalism's proliferation of differences.
Notes: Revision of author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Union Theological Seminary, 2001.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-192).
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Theoretical and hermeneutical perspectives on difference; title: Difference and Greco-Roman meals; title: Difference and table-fellowship in Antioch (Gal 2:11-21); title: The "weak" and the "strong" at table in Romans 14:1-15:13; title: Equality with difference: solidarity with the "weak."