I had the phrase pop into my head at some point. I’m not entirely sure why. Most likely it is just because that’s the sort of thing that happens in my brain. You know the saying about meetings that should have been emails? (Indeed, you may recall me sharing a wonderful exploration of Star Wars meetings that should have been emails.) I found myself thinking about epistles that should have been emails. In other words, what things that Paul and other letter-writers in early Christianity say would have been much shorter and simpler if email had been around?
There would be a lot more back and forth, and with a bit of luck in the email that reached us we’d also have that thing that makes some emails really valuable while in other cases it shows the writer’s lack of concern for recipients, namely the quoted history of the prior exchange. When that is included it is often useful since the very last message in the exchange can be archived and preserve the whole conversation. When people send emails to e-mail lists without deleting the prior conversation, they show a lack of consideration for those who get a daily digest from the group and will have to wade through the same content multiple times as a result. But if we had a back-and forth between Paul and the church in Corinth via email, wouldn’t that be better than either a meeting he had with them face to face that we today had no access to, and what we have in his epistles which is one side of the conversation expounded at length?
I guess if I am honest I feel like I don’t really have a clever punch line to the title and premise of this post, which seems like the set up for one. But I do think this could be a useful student assignment, for instance, to turning New Testament epistles into email exchanges, complete with the other side of the conversation preceded by the requisite “greater than” symbols indicating they are block quotes.
There has been a lot around the blogosphere that constitutes more serious discussion of the New Testament epistles. First and foremost, I am long overdue to draw attention to Dr. Yung Suk Kim’s recent book, Rereading Galatians from the Perspective of Paul’s Gospel. In it he says things such as that “the content of faith is not merely to accept Christ’s vicarious death but to imitate him.” See his blog for lots more interesting content from him, including posts on what the gospel is for Paul and a striking email from his editor about the book. Dr. Kim also has a YouTube channel that you may wish to check out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNMaIPs8xCU&feature=youtu.be
Also related to some of the distinctive elements in Kim’s interpretation:
Matthew Bates on pistis as allegiance.
Ben Witherington recommends the NET Bible, one reason being its rendering of pistis christou:
Next, John Squires has written several blog posts about Paul’s letters to the Galatians and the Romans:
Paul’s vision of “One in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28) and the Uniting Church
The best theology is contextual: learning from Paul’s letter to the Romans (Year A)
The righteous-justice of God, a gift to all humanity (Romans; Year A)
See too:
(Mis)Understanding Philippians—The Preformed Christ Hymn is Not Preformed…Or a Hymn
Christos Tsiolkas Talks about his Novel ‘Damascus’ with Theologians
One God, One Lord, and Many Sons of God to Follow–Paul’s Idea of Mass Apotheosis
Finally, let me share the last of the Apostle Paul APB videos and a blog post related to it:
https://holylandphotos.wordpress.com/2019/02/14/rome-the-basilica-julia-is-this-where-paul-was-condemned-to-death/
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In