Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
A multicultural paul in the globalized Roman empire
University of Helsinki, Finland.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3748-8129
2023 (English)In: Advances in Ancient, Biblical, and Near Eastern Research (AABNER), ISSN 2748-6419, Vol. 3, no 3, p. 99-136Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article looks at Paul as a multicultural individual in the globalized Roman Empire. Following theorists such as Verónica Benet-Martínez, Ying-yi Hong, Mark Khei, and Seth Schwartz, multiculturalism is defined here as a person’s access to more than one knowledge system. The mutual adjustment of these systems, acculturation, is understood as a group phenomenon sensitive to minority and majority positions, often taking place on the abstract level of identity discourse and accessible through the concept of social identity. The article argues that while Jewishness represents for Paul a robust heritage culture, it does not rule out Paul’s access to other cultural knowledge systems. Paul sometimes distances himself from his Jewish identity in favor of an identity “in Christ,” which Paul portrays as a knowledge system, even though this system was not very developed. At times, Paul also identifies with Romanness (Romanitas), signs of which are scarce but potentially visible in his stereotypical criticism of Jews. The article argues that anti-imperial readings of Paul are exegetically one-sided and need reassessment in the light of the new theoretical developments in the study of the Roman Empire as a globalized environment that is not best understood through dichotomies.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen , 2023. Vol. 3, no 3, p. 99-136
Keywords [en]
Theology, early Christianity, globalization, multiculturalism, Paul the Apostle, social identity
National Category
Religious Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-235778DOI: 10.35068/aabner.v3i3.1102OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-235778DiVA, id: diva2:1940753
Available from: 2025-02-26 Created: 2025-02-26 Last updated: 2025-02-27Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(3197 kB)29 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT02.pdfFile size 3197 kBChecksum SHA-512
cd83f014336d6aadcf9264c735f126a9b073f3eaebf997f7b7fe7db2b4125a236b6251bb09b4d789dfd112e21b57badca6457dd45ad8632e5a07ae166a0fef1e
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full text

Authority records

Nikki, Nina

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Nikki, Nina
Religious Studies

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 29 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 249 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf