'Prisoner of Christ': What did this phrase mean to Paul and other early Christians, and what might it mean today?

“基督的囚徒”：这句话对保罗和其他早期基督徒意味着什么，在今天又意味着什么？

• 批准号: 2710979
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2710979
• 关键词: Prisoner; Christ; What; did; phrase

The apostle Paul suffered imprisonment on multiple occasions, at the hands (according to various accounts) of local authorities, Roman officials, client kings, and even the Emperor; however, he identifies himself only as a prisoner of Christ. This enigmatic phrase had a significant afterlife in early Christian literature; it is ascribed to Paul in various non-canonical texts such as 3 Corinthians 3:1, 35; 1 Clement 5:6; and Chrysostom, Hom. Phil. 2 and 10; other 'prisoners of Christ' appear in Ignatius (Rom. 1:5; Tars. 1:1); and Eusebius (Hist. eccl. 5:12). Moreover, numerous important early Christian texts were written in, or narrate, situations of imprisonment. Yet there is no monograph-length study that explores the trajectory of the concept 'prisoner of Christ', and its associated narratives, among early Christians. Nor is there a thematic analysis of the formative experience of imprisonment for early Christians, and the meanings ascribed to these experiences. My project will ask the following three key questions: What did Paul seek to convey with 'prisoner of Christ', in the context of his carceral experiences? How did 'prisoner of Christ' develop as a concept in the first three centuries AD? And finally, what are the ethical implications of understanding oneself as a 'prisoner of Christ'? Studies of Paul's prison letters frequently dismiss the possibility that imprisonment had 'any concrete effect' on his work (Wansink, 1996: 14). The small but growing body of scholarship redressing this neglect includes Schellenberg, 2021; Standhartinger, 2013; Wansink, 1996; and Rapske, 1994. However, the pregnant phrase 'prisoner of Christ' has been overlooked; several recent studies of Paul's life and writing ignore the phrase entirely (including Schnelle, 2014; Wolter, 2015; Barclay, 2015). The few existing studies (Wansink [ch.4], 1996; Witetschek, 2015; Jung, 2008) demonstrate its rhetorical impact, its military connotations, and its self-mythologising tendencies. Nonetheless, 'prisoner of Christ' was more than simply a Pauline inverse boast; it was a key concept in the formation of early Christian identity. Without a detailed exploration of this concept, we cannot fully appreciate Paul's own understanding of his incarceration or the role of imprisonment in shaping early Christianity. I will use a historical and intertextual methodology to explore imprisonment in its historical-social context, and, through the lens of the phrase 'prisoner of Christ', thematically examine incarceration's role in early Christian texts up to the end of the third century. However, I will go beyond the typical scope of historical biblical projects in reflecting on the direct ethical implications of this study for the legitimacy of carceral practices within modern Christian thought and British society. Western penal traditions are deeply rooted in biblical interpretation (Ignatieff, 1979; Graber, 2011). As Campbell (2018) has demonstrated, Pauline theology - especially concepts of sin and retribution - has been seminal to the development of modern penal practice and reform. However, Paul's own identity as a victim of punitive state incarceration - from which position some of this theology was written - has been overlooked in these debates, which privilege a disembodied interpretation of his theological output over his embodied experience. This experience, much as that of modern incarceration, intersects in significant ways with the experience of social inequality based on ethnicity, social status, slavery, and gender. My project aims to renew the ongoing conversation between texts, theology and prison practices by foregrounding the imprisonable bodies of Paul and his contemporaries. My project is therefore original, both for its contribution to studies of Paul, the New Testament and early Christianity, and for its potential ethical applications to our own modern world.

使徒保罗多次遭受监禁，在地方当局，罗马官员，代理国王，甚至皇帝的手中（根据各种说法）；然而，他认为自己只是基督的囚犯。这个神秘的短语在早期基督教文学中有着重要的意义；在各种非正典文本中，它被认为是保罗说的，比如哥林多前书3:1,35；1克莱门特5:6；金口，洪。菲尔2分和10分；其他“基督的囚犯”出现在依纳爵（罗马书1:5；他书1:1）；和优西比乌（历史学家）。摘自传道。12)。此外，许多重要的早期基督教文本都是在监禁的情况下写成或叙述的。然而，还没有专著长度的研究，探讨“基督的囚犯”的概念的轨迹，以及与之相关的叙述，在早期基督徒中。也没有对早期基督徒监禁的形成经历以及这些经历的意义进行专题分析。我的项目将提出以下三个关键问题：在他的监禁经历中，保罗试图用“基督的囚犯”来传达什么？“基督的囚犯”这个概念在公元前三个世纪是如何发展起来的？最后，把自己理解为“基督的囚犯”的伦理含义是什么？对保罗监狱信件的研究经常排除监禁对他的工作有“任何具体影响”的可能性（Wansink, 1996: 14）。纠正这一忽视的学术研究虽少，但正在不断增长，包括谢伦伯格（Schellenberg, 2021）；Standhartinger, 2013;汪幸科,1996;和Rapske， 1994。然而，隐含的短语“基督的囚犯”被忽视了；最近几项关于保罗生活和写作的研究完全忽略了这句话（包括Schnelle, 2014; Wolter, 2015; Barclay, 2015）。现有的少数研究（Wansink [ch.4], 1996; Witetschek, 2015; Jung, 2008）证明了它的修辞影响、军事内涵和自我神话化倾向。尽管如此，“基督的囚犯”不仅仅是保罗的反自夸；这是早期基督教身份形成的关键概念。如果没有对这个概念的详细探讨，我们就不能完全理解保罗对他的监禁的理解，或者监禁在塑造早期基督教中的作用。我将使用历史和互文的方法来探索监禁在其历史社会背景下，并通过“基督的囚犯”这个短语的镜头，从主题上考察监禁在早期基督教文本中直到三世纪末的作用。然而，我将超越历史圣经项目的典型范围，反思本研究对现代基督教思想和英国社会中医学实践合法性的直接伦理含义。西方刑罚传统深深植根于圣经的解释（Ignatieff, 1979; Graber, 2011）。正如坎贝尔（2018）所证明的那样，保罗神学——尤其是罪和报应的概念——对现代刑罚实践和改革的发展具有开创性意义。然而，保罗自己作为惩罚性国家监禁的受害者的身份——从这个立场出发，一些神学被写了出来——在这些辩论中被忽视了，这使他的神学产出的非实体解释特权于他的具体化经历。这种经历，就像现代监禁一样，在很大程度上与基于种族、社会地位、奴隶制和性别的社会不平等的经历有重要的交集。我的项目旨在更新文本，神学和监狱实践之间正在进行的对话，通过突出保罗和他同时代的可监禁的身体。因此，我的项目是原创的，既因为它对保罗、新约和早期基督教的研究有贡献，也因为它对我们现代世界的潜在伦理应用。