Week 14

Chapter Seven, "Life Together in Christ" begins by saying how Paul didn't just convert individuals. I found this very interesting. He did more than just convert individuals, he created communities. The reason I found this interesting is because he believes that life with Christ was always something that was communal and not just all on your own. I also found it very interesting to hear what was known about the early communal Christian communities. I never really thought about how this might of actually happened. I also never thought about the fact that life with Christ was communal. I mean I know it is never just you, because Christ is always with you, but I never thought about other people being there as well. I also liked; "The social form of love for Paul was distributive justice and non-violence, bread and peace.” This to me was a good way to look at the social aspect of love.

The next aspect of the chapter that I found interesting was how the earlier authors contrasted retributive justice (punishment) with ‘distributive justice’ or divinely mandated economic justice and more. It seems that the authors feel that for Paul the theme of "love and justice"go together. Justice without love can be brutal, and love without justice can be banal. Love is the heart of justice, and justice is the social form of love.” I find this very interesting that they think like this. I never would have really put these two together or thought about them in this way. But then again it makes sense. Justice with out love, would be brutal and like they say love with out justice would be dull.

As I moved on into the Epilogue (The Death of an Apostle) it seemed to be very brief, or short to me. One thing I found interesting, however, is the beginning. It began with almost a disclaimer, saying “In this Epilogue we move into the higher echelons of scholarship known as conjecture. We ask about Paul’s death. How, where, and when did he die? All we can offer in reply is educated guesswork.” I thought it was interesting and different how this epilogue was started. The authors never really state how Paul died, they only offer possibilities. I would have thought that this would have been something more people would of wanted to discover. The main thing they seemed interested about was which letter they thought was Paul's very last one. I guess the ending of Paul's letter and how he died are not really known, however it seems that they have some fairly good ideas. Overall I thought the last finally bit of "The First Paul" was interesting. The main point that I liked the most was how Paul didn't just convert individuals, instead he created communities. This is something I never would have really thought about.