The Apocalyptic Paul Booth is a series of episodes dedicated to apocalyptic readings of the apostle Paul’s letters. Interviews situate Pauline apocalyptic—a stream of similar interpretations of Paul's writings originating in the work of exegetes like Rudolf Bultmann and Ernst Käsemann—among other interpretations (the Old and New Paul readings, for instance) as well as among Second Temple Jewish apocalyptic literature.

On this episode, I talk with Dr. Susan Grove Eastman, Associate Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, as well as an Episcopal priest with two decades of pastoral experience. Dr. Eastman is the author of numerous books on Paul, most recently including Recovering Paul's Mother Tongue: Language and Theology in Galatians (2nd ed., Cascade, 2022), (forthcoming, Cascade, 2023), and the forthcoming Interpretation commentary on Romans.

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PODCAST LINKS:

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SOURCES MENTIONED:

Davies, Jamie. The Apocalyptic Paul: Retrospect and Prospect.

Davis, Joshua B., and Douglas Harink. Apocalyptic and the Future of Theology: With and Beyond J. Louis Martyn.

De Boer, Martinus. Paul, Theologian of God’s Apocalypse: Essays on Paul and Apocalyptic.

Grove Eastman, Susan. Paul and the Person: Reframing Paul’s Anthropology.

———. Recovering Paul’s Mother Tongue: Language and Theology in Galatians. 2nd ed.

Jervis, L. Ann. Paul and Time: Life in the Temporality of Christ.

Linebaugh, Jonathan A. The Word of the Cross: Reading Paul.

Martyn, J. Louis. Galatians.

OUTLINE:

(02:18) – Ethiopian coffee, Keurig coffee

(03:45) – Three ways of construing the Apocalyptic Paul

(07:54) – Cosmological scope

(09:36) – Pauline apocalyptic and other biblical apocalyptic

(12:18) – Major historic figures: Kasemann, Barth, Martyn, Beker

(15:25) – The influence of Lou (and Dorothy) Martyn and Käsemann

(18:13) – Zooming out from the individual to the cosmological

(22:21) – Pauline apocalyptic’s blind spots: dichotomous thinking

(28:37) – Paul and human transformation

(33:12) – Paul and the life of the church

(39:20) – “Invasion” vs. “incarnation”

(43:39) – Contemporary figures: Davies, Jervis, Bowens, Harink

(46:31) – Where to start

(49:39) – Recovering Paul’s Mother Tongue, 2nd ed.

(54:18) – Forthcoming: Oneself in Another