Judith Kovacs: Counsels of perfection: the place of Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews in Clement of Alexandria’s reading of Pauline theology

In the twenty-first century, a scholar asked to give a précis of the theology of Saint Paul might offer the following, based on the seven letters generally accepted as Pauline: Jesus came as the messiah long expected by the Jews, who now, by his death and resurrection, offers freedom from sin and death and reconciliation with God to all people. What began in these two earth-shattering events will soon be consummated in the resurrection of all who trust in Jesus and the full realization of God’s kingdom in a redeemed creation. Clement of Alexandria, who champions Paul as ‘the divine apostle’ and quotes constantly from his letters, might offer a rather different summary, emphasizing knowledge of God as the Christian’s most important concern, the pursuit of perfection, and the hope of ascent through the heavenly spheres to the perfect end of everlasting contemplation of God. To some extent this interpretation reflects the Platonic background that Clement brings to his reading of the Bible. This paper explores another factor: that Clement is reading a larger corpus of ‘Pauline’ letters. It explores how Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews encourage Clement to focus on themes that receive only brief mention in the seven-letter corpus. These include an emphasis on heavenly realities, celebration of the mysteries of divine knowledge (Col 1-2; Eph 3, Heb 5), and reflections on Christ’s pre-existence as creator of all (Col 1:15-20) and his role as forerunner in the believer’s heavenly ascent (Heb 4:14; 6:20).

Daniel Fanous: Christ Formed In You: Discerning Paul's "Theotic Exegesis" in Origen and Irenaeus

Recent Pauline studies have begun to take seriously early patristic exegesis, but most have only just scratched the surface. This paper will, accordingly, examine how Paul himself read scripture after his epiphany on the road to Damascus: having been reconfigured by (1) the light of Christ (hence the light many fathers speak of Christ casting on scripture); (2) the realization he was persecuting “me [Christ]” (hence participation in Christ); (3) and that he would “suffer for my [Christ] name’s sake” (hence co-crucifixion). This approach though curiously novel is, in fact, ancient. By examining the exegeses of Origen—few have properly grappled with his commentary on Romans—and Irenaeus, I will seek to discern an early (and rather Pauline) method of scriptural interpretation, namely, what may be termed a “theotic exegesis." This goes well beyond the methods described in patristic exegetical studies, whether it be figural interpretation, christo-centric, or even christophanic exegesis. Instead, it draws near to how Paul himself approaches scripture, as exegesis that not only sees or encounters Christ in scripture, but more radically has Christ “formed in you” (Gal 4:19). I then hope to bring this into conversation with modern pauline scholarship in seeing that Jew/Gentile incorporation is through cruciform participative transformation in Christ. This approach steers through the many recent Pauline controversies, and seeks to bring the earliest exegetes, particularly Origen and Irenaeus, into conversation with some fascinating new currents in Pauline studies.