RT Article
T1 What to Expect when you’re Expecting: Maternity, Salvation History, and the ‘Apocalyptic Paul’
JF Journal for the study of the New Testament
VO 38
IS 3
SP 301
OP 315
A1 Davies, J. P.
LA English
YR 2016
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1776997115
AB This article argues, on the basis of Jewish and Christian apocalypses, that ‘apocalyptic’ in Paul should not be understood as antithetical to ‘salvation history’. It focuses on one of Paul’s key metaphors, childbirth, which has been identified as an image intrinsically connected to Paul’s ‘apocalyptic’ eschatology. It will first offer a brief survey of the way the image of childbirth has been deployed in recent ‘apocalyptic’ interpretations of Paul (notably in the work of Beverly Gaventa) in support of a ‘punctiliar-invasive’ theology of history over against a ‘linear-progressive’ view. It will then examine some of the evidence from the apocalyptic literature where childbirth is used as an eschatological metaphor, particularly in the book of Revelation. It will argue that an understanding of the logic of this metaphor in Second Temple Jewish and early Christian apocalyptic thought raises questions about the eschatological dichotomy at the heart of the contemporary ‘apocalyptic Paul’ movement.
K1 Salvation History
K1 Revelation
K1 Paul
K1 4 Ezra
K1 Childbirth
K1 Apocalyptic
DO 10.1177/0142064X15621651