Thursday 30 April 2015

Jeremy Barrier: Abraham’s Seed: Tracing pneuma as a corporeal substance from Paul’s writings to the Apocryphon of John

Since the time of Augustine, the pneuma (i.e., Spirit) of God has often been assumed to be a non-corporeal substance. However, an influx of more recent studies have begun to explore the corporeal dimensions of God as discussed in earliest Christianity. In particular, scholars such as Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Dale Martin, and Troy Martin have paved the way in Pauline Studies for understanding pneuma as a physiological, corporeal substance, instead of viewing it primarily as a metaphor. In 2014, I published an article reinforcing these concepts by connecting pneuma with “Abraham’s Seed” (Galatians 3:29) through a physiological explanation. In this presentation, I will further test the hypothesis of a corporeal pneuma by examining the concept of “Abraham’s Seed” within several early church writings to see whether or not any traces of this corporeal concept of pneuma can be detected.

No comments:

Post a Comment