St. Paul among the Philosophers (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion)

209 Pages·2009·1.41 MB·English

by  John D. Caputo

St. Paul
among the Philosophers
Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion
Merold Westphal, editor
St. Paul among the Philosophers
•
Edited by
John D. Caputo & Linda Martín Alcoff
Indiana University Press
Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of Manufactured in the United States of
America
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street Library of Congress Cataloging-in-
Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA Publication Data
http://iupress.indiana.edu St. Paul among the philosophers / edited
by John D. Caputo and Linda Martín
Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Alcoff.
Fax orders 812-855-7931 p. cm. — (Indiana series in the phi-
Orders by e-mail [email protected] losophy of religion)
Proceedings of a conference held Apr.
© 2009 by Indiana University Press 14–16, 2005 at Syracuse University.
All rights reserved Includes bibliographical references and
index.
No part of this book may be reproduced ISBN 978-0-253-35317-7 (cloth : alk.
or utilized in any form or by any means, paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-22083-7
electronic or mechanical, including pho- (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Bible. N.T. Epistles
tocopying and recording, or by any in- of Paul—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—
formation storage and retrieval system, Congresses. 2. Paul, the Apostle, Saint—
without permission in writing from the Congresses. 3. Truth—Congresses. 4.
publisher. The Association of American Universalism—Congresses. I. Caputo,
University Presses’ Resolution on Per- John D. II. Alcoff, Linda. III. Title: Saint
missions constitutes the only exception Paul among the philosophers.
to this prohibition. BS2650.52.S7 2009
227’.06—dc22
The paper used in this publication meets 2008048653
the minimum requirements of the Ameri-
can National Standard for Information 1 2 3 4 5 14 13 12 11 10 09
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Print-
ed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
To Cathryn R. Newton,
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Syracuse University
For her leadership and support

Contents
· Acknowledgments · ix

Introduction Postcards from Paul: Subtraction versus
Grafting · John D. Caputo · 1
one Paul among the Philosophers
1 St. Paul, Founder of the Universal Subject · Alain
Badiou · 27
2 From Job to Christ: A Paulinian Reading of
Chesterton · Slavoj Žižek · 39
two Paul between Jews and Christians
3 Historical Integrity, Interpretive Freedom: The
Philosopher’s Paul and the Problem of
Anachronism · Paula Fredriksen · 61
4 Paul between Judaism and Hellenism · E. P.
Sanders · 74
5 The Promise of Teleology, the Constraints of
Epistemology, and Universal Vision in Paul · Dale B.
Martin · 91
6 Paul among the Antiphilosophers; or, Saul among the
Sophists · Daniel Boyarin · 109
7 Paul’s Notion of Dunamis: Between the Possible and
the Impossible · Richard Kearney · 142
8 Concluding Roundtable: St. Paul among the
Historians and the Systematizers · 160
· List of Contributors · 185
· Index · 187

Acknowledgments
The editors wish to acknowledge the support of Cathryn R. Newton, Dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences, Syracuse University (2000–2008), for
her generous support and leadership in making possible a series of confer-
ences entitled Postmodernism, Culture and Religion, the first of which, St.
Paul Among the Philosophers, was held at Syracuse University on April
14–16, 2005, on which this volume is based.
We are very grateful for the grant we received from the Ray Smith Sym-
posium of Syracuse University, which was a major contribution to the finan-
cial support of the conference.
We thank in particular Sherry Hayes and Deborah Pratt, on the staff of
the Religion Department at Syracuse University, for their indefatigable en-
ergy, unflagging good spirits, and astonishing mastery of the details of run-
ning a conference, which made everything easy for us.
ix