Kathy Ehrensperger, Reader in New Testament Studies at the University of
Wales Trinity Saint David, provides a new paradigm for understanding Paul’s
theologizing, one that builds on the emerging fields of bilingualism and
biculturalism. She concludes that these frameworks provide a better
understanding for the way Paul engages the diverse contexts evident in his
mission among the nations. Thus, she calls into question key aspects of
standard scholarly constructs and provides a more convincing way forward, one that
sees Paul as a cultural negotiator in the space between Roman, Greek, and
Jewish cultural discourses.
The introduction (chapter 1) highlights the focus of the study, which is
to look at Paul’s role as an intercultural communicator, one who is a mediator between
Jewish, Greek, and Roman cultural and ethnic traditions. However, Ehrensperger
rejects any claim of fusion or assimilation with regard to these processes.
This last point is a crucial and most convincing insight from her work as she
builds on the findings of bilingualism and biculturalism to understand more
clearly Paul’s approach to communication (e.g. as one embedded in Judaism but
conversant in multiple universes of discourse). Chapter 2 interrogates the
concepts of Hellenism and hybridity. The former is rejected as a useful way of
describing the interaction between Greek and Jewish culture. The source of the
problem relates to Johann Gustav Droysen’s original development of the concept
and Martin Hengel’s later appropriation of Droysen’s work. The aspect of
Hellenism that is most problematic for Ehrensperger is the idea of cultural
fusion. Her rejection of that naturally leads her to critique the use of the
postcolonial concept of hybridity. Within Pauline studies, Ehrensperger notes
two tendencies: (1) a lack of clarity with regard to what is being implied and
(2) an expectation of blending in the intercultural encounter. Both concepts
are found to be less than useful for Pauline studies specifically. Hybridity
contributes to an assumption that the Christ-movement resulted in a third race
while Hellenism, with its problematic ideological roots, often posits
Hellenistic Judaism as that which paved the way for the universal and higher
religious ideals of Christianity.
Having questioned the continuing validity of two crucial concepts in NT
studies, chapter 3 outlines Ehrensperger’s suggested way forward, namely the
use of bilingualism and biculturalism in an alternative paradigm for
understanding Paul’s intercultural interaction. This chapter convincingly connects language,
culture, and identity via the resources of sociolinguistics. The contribution
of Pierre Bourdieu is clearly evident, especially his concept of habitus.
Ehrensperger navigates the challenges associated with defining culture and
ethnicity and concludes that Farzad Sharifian’s idea of cultural
conceptualizations connects well with Bourdieu’s work while Floya Anthias’
distinction between ethnic and cultural groups is probative. Of particular
interest with regard to Paul is the idea of relational ethnicity; this properly
recontextualizes Jewish particularity within wider on-going cultural discourse
during the first century CE. The chapter continues by outlining the research
into bilingualism and biculturalism especially as it relates to ethnic
diversity. It is evident in this section just how pervasively the
monolinguistic context of NT scholars has contributed to the premature closing off
of certain interpretive options. The chapter concludes with a nuanced discussion
of the way a lingua franca does not necessarily lead to cultural blending;
rather, localized diversity is more often evident in such a cultural context.
Chapter 4 highlights linguistic, ethnic, and cultural diversity within
the Roman Empire. This wide-ranging survey further substantiates Ehrensperger’s
claim that blending and fusion of collective identities was not the norm. The
preponderance of literary and inscriptional artifacts in Greek and the
comparative lack of vernacular languages for these is a challenge to the thesis
put forth in this monograph. Thus, this chapter seeks to deconstruct the
standard view for the significance of this evidence. Particularly problematic
for the standard view are the elite fallacy and the power dynamics associated
with provincial collaborators and Rome. Here Ehrensperger’s feminist
hermeneutic proves quite useful in discerning problematic interpretive
trajectories. A few highlights from this chapter include: (1) a reminder that
the use of Greek language does not necessarily imply the acceptance of Greek
culture; (2) Jewish literature of the period, identified as barbaric
literature, provides an important interpretive lens for understanding ways to
respond to Roman and Greek hegemony; (3) since there was no blended ‘Graeco-Roman’
cultural construct during the Early Principate this term should only be use
cautiously and with ‘definitional clarity’ (p. 77 n. 72); and (4) bicultural
mediators (e.g. Manetho,
Lucian, Josephus, and Philo) perform vital functions in any situation of
cultural contact and the Early Principate was no exception. These combine to support
Ehrensperger’s developing thesis, that ‘Paul and his co-workers…embarked on a
mission which included the mediation/translation of an alternative to the
dominating imperial discourse rooted in the Jewish alternative tradition that
had developed over centuries of interaction with others’ (p. 101).
Chapter 5 places Paul on the first century map with regard to cultural,
ethnic, and linguistic diversity. Ehrensperger cleverly weaves in and out of
existing debates within Pauline studies as they impinge on Paul’s identity and
practices as an intercultural meditator. She begins by discussing the way Paul
would have been viewed from the perspective of Roman imperial discourse. She
then moves into an important review of ethnē
from a Roman perspective and provides an overview of the important work
done on this topic from the research of Davina Lopez and Brigitte Kahl.
Ehrensperger concludes that Paul would have been viewed as a member of a
subjugated ethnē; however, he does
not describe himself or his own people with the same term –for that he uses the
term genos. Thus, Paul’s ‘us and
them’ categorization is different than that practiced by the Romans. In the
discussion of genos, Ehrensperger see
Paul as one who continues to identify with his ‘descent group’, values his
Jewishness, and maintains full Torah observance (p. 130). Next Ehrensperger
discusses the Jewish perspective on ta
ethnē and rejects the idea that such universalizing discourse suggests that
Paul thought existing identities were obliterated. The collective identity of
members of the nations is not problematic for Paul in the main but only when it
results in idolatrous practices. One of the fascinating interpretive moves that
Ehrensperger makes is that Paul’s view of Jews and the people from the nations
may have not developed in a significant way. Thus for Paul, there was no ‘third
kind’ within the Christ-movement; there were ‘those of the peritomē and those of the akrobustia
in Christ, but no mixture between them’ (p. 131). This chapter concludes with a
profile of Paul’s Jewish identity: he was at least bilingual, received a Greek
Jewish education, and would have continued to be identified as one of the peritomē, one embedded ‘in the
alternative Greek discourse of his people (genos)’
(p. 137).
Chapter 6 focuses on the role of Israel’s scriptural tradition and its
interpretation as it moves between cultural contexts. The development of the
LXX serves as an exemplar of the way ideas written within the Hebrew symbolic
universe are transformed when translated into Greek. This model serves as a
helpful comparison for the challenges Paul, as part of the polyglot Jewish
interpretive tradition, dealt with when communicating his gospel since it is sourced
in a similar symbolic universe. The influence of Israel’s apocalyptic tradition
is also seen in Paul’s writings, especially as it interacts with Roman threats
of violence and totalitarianism. Thus, Ehrensperger rightly places the
Christ-movement as part of an ‘existing Jewish resistance tradition’ (p. 151).
However, this resistance did not lead Paul to conclude that all aspects of
one’s former life had been obliterated in Christ. One of the important
contributions of Ehrensperger’s work is the recognition of aspects of life
among the nations that continue in Christ. The chapter concludes with two
examples of the way paying attention to various cultural scripts results in
interpretive clarity; these include the unity of Israel and the nations, and
the understanding of the social implications of pist- related words. The former reveals Paul as one seeking to
achieve unity among the nations in ways that challenged the approach of the
Romans, while the latter, emphasizing faithfulness, trust, and loyalty, reveals
a stark difference between pist-
discourse and Roman fides discourse.
Taken together, these two examples show the interpretive value of
Ehrensperger’s new paradigm.
Chapter 7 provides an analysis of the challenges associated with
everyday ritual life within the Roman Empire. Ehrensperger offers a convincing
reading of 1 Corinthians 8-10, one that reveals the difficulty of negotiating
the existing ritual experiences of those from the nations. This chapter brings
to the fore the significance of the bicultural paradigm and shows Paul to be
open to aspects of the cultural life of the nations, as long as these align
with God’s glory (1 Cor. 10.31). Also, in her discussion of the table of the
Lord, she makes a compelling argument that Paul was not critiquing the
Jerusalem Temple but still viewed it as the centre of the cult for the God of
Israel, with differing implications for Christ-followers from the nations and from
Israel both of whom Christ links in ‘peace’ and ‘mutual empowerment’ (pp. 211,
213).
Chapter 8 highlights the key components of bilingualism and biculturalism
that were relevant to Ehrensperger’s study and synthesizes many of the arguments
developed in the preceding chapters. She reminds her readers that, in light of
her new paradigm, ‘any attempt to emphasize one dimension involved in this
translation process, Jewish, “Greek or barbarian”, at the expense of the other,
is inadequate’. Ehrensperger is calling for clear attention to all the
narratives of belonging and cultural encyclopedias in existence in the first
century CE as a way to better understand the ‘loss and gain’ evident in Paul’s
mission as an intercultural mediator (p. 219). For Paul, his gospel discourse
remains ‘to the Jew first and also to the Greek’ (Rom. 1.16b) and this
paradigmatic statement takes on seminal significance in Ehrensperger’s
approach. This is not merely a salvation historical statement but one of
embeddedness and belonging. Paul’s message required cross-cultural communication
which necessitated some familiarity with non-Jewish cult practices, though
there is also a distinct lack of integration of existing philosophical or
mythic traditions because his ‘narrative framework is entirely Jewish’ (p.
221). The book concludes with an important call to contemporary
Jewish-Christian dialogue as a direct implication of Paul’s theologizing at the
crossroads of cultures.
I found very little to disagree with in this monograph, though one
wonders if we can discern with any level of specificity the presence of former
God-fearers within Paul’s addressees or the extent to which
non-Christ-following Jews are part of Paul’s theologizing. These each deserve
further investigation, especially since the latter is crucial for this approach
to Paul. What Ehrensperger has presented in Paul
at the Crossroads of Cultures is nothing short of a paradigm shift. Her approach,
which I see as completely on target, will – in due time – change the way
Pauline scholars engage Paul and his diverse contexts. The lenses of
bilingualism and biculturalism genuinely move the interpretive discussion
forward – a rare achievement in an era of ever-increasing monographs dealing
with the apostle Paul. This work is highly recommended and one that Pauline
scholars will have to respond to since the implications of her work touch almost
every current debate within the field.
