Origins of Christian identity in the letters of Paul
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Date
26/06/2012Author
Louy, Stephen D.
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Abstract
A common theme in examining Christian identity focuses on the emergence of
that identity, on locating the point in time within the history of the Christian church that
one can first observe a clearly identifiable community which can be called ‘Christian.’
There is evidence that a clear sense of a Christian identity existed by the second century
CE. This is expressed in several authors from the second century CE, who employ
‘ethnic’ terminology to refer to the Christians as a ‘new’ or ‘third’ race. What allowed
these authors to identify the Christians as a distinct ‘race’ so soon after the emergence of
the group? This study explores the origins of this ‘race’ of Christians. Examination of
the earliest existent Christian texts, the undisputed letters of the apostle Paul,
demonstrates a group which exists partially within the Jewish identity group, and yet
simultaneously displays features of a unique group identity.
Two methods of investigation are employed to explore the origins of a Christian
‘race.’ First, from those authors who describe the Christians as a ‘race,’ a ‘vocabulary of
identity’ is identified, and instances of this vocabulary are examined in the undisputed
Pauline corpus to demonstrate the continued Jewish identity of Paul and many of his
congregants. Second, a series of group identity features which are unique to the Jewish
identity group are drawn from the work of John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith,
James D.G. Dunn, and E.P. Sanders. An examination of these features in the undisputed
Pauline corpus shows the beginnings of a distancing between the nascent Christian
movement and its Jewish parent body.
Continuing the investigation, the study explores the Pauline epistles for evidence
of uniquely Christian group identity features. A series of these identifiers are examined,
demonstrating the methods by which the earliest Christ-followers were identified as
Christ-followers. These Christ-following identifiers served as the basis for the eventual
‘ethnic’ distinction of the Christian movement. The thesis concludes that the Pauline
epistles reveal the origins of the later Christian ‘race’, and that during the first century
Paul and his congregations simultaneously existed within the Jewish identity group, and
alongside this group as members of an identifiable Christ-following identity group.