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

使徒保罗多次遭到监禁，落入地方当局、罗马官员、客户国王，甚至皇帝之手(根据各种说法)；然而，他只认为自己是基督的囚犯。这个神秘的短语在早期基督教文学中有重要的来世；它在各种非规范文本中归因于保罗，如哥林多前书3：1，35；克莱门特前书5：6；以及金口，霍姆。菲尔。2和10；其他“基督的囚犯”出现在伊格那丢(罗马。1：5；焦油。1：1)；和尤西比乌斯(Hist.ECCL.5：12)。此外，许多重要的早期基督教经文是写在或叙述监禁的情况。然而，在早期基督徒中，还没有专著篇幅的研究来探索“基督的囚犯”这一概念及其相关叙述的发展轨迹。也没有关于早期基督徒被监禁的形成经历的主题分析，以及这些经历所赋予的意义。我的项目将问以下三个关键问题：保罗在他被监禁的经历中，试图通过“基督的囚犯”传达什么？在公元前三个世纪，“基督的囚犯”作为一个概念是如何发展起来的？最后，把自己理解为“基督的囚犯”的伦理含义是什么？对保罗狱中信件的研究经常排除监禁对他的工作产生“任何具体影响”的可能性(Wansink，1996：14)。纠正这种忽视的学术团体虽不多，但仍在不断增加，包括谢伦伯格，2021年；斯坦哈廷格，2013年；万辛克，1996年；拉普斯克，1994年。然而，怀孕的短语“基督的囚犯”被忽视了；最近几项关于保罗生平和写作的研究完全忽略了这个短语(包括Schnelle，2014；Wolter，2015；Barcly，2015)。现有的少数研究(Wansink[ch.4]，1996；Witetschek，2015；Jung，2008)展示了它的修辞影响、它的军事内涵以及它的自我神话倾向。尽管如此，“基督的囚犯”不仅仅是波林的反面吹嘘；它是形成早期基督徒身份的关键概念。如果不详细探讨这一概念，我们就不能完全理解保罗自己对自己被监禁的理解，也不能完全理解监禁在塑造早期基督教中的作用。我将使用历史和互文性的方法来探讨监禁在其历史社会背景中的作用，并通过‘基督的囚犯’这一短语的镜头，以主题的方式研究监禁在直到三世纪末的早期基督教经文中的作用。然而，我将超越历史圣经项目的典型范围，反思这项研究对现代基督教思想和英国社会中监禁做法的合法性的直接伦理影响。西方的刑罚传统深深植根于对《圣经》的解释(伊格纳季耶夫，1979；格雷伯，2011年)。正如Campbell(2018)所证明的那样，Pauline神学--特别是罪和报应的概念--对现代刑罚实践和改革的发展具有开创性的意义。然而，保罗作为惩罚性国家监禁的受害者的身份--其中一些神学就是从这个立场写成的--在这些辩论中被忽视了，这些辩论优先于对他的神学产出的非实体解释，而不是他的有形经验。这种经历，就像现代监禁的经历一样，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相交。我的项目旨在通过突出保罗和他同时代人的可监禁身体来更新文本、神学和监狱实践之间正在进行的对话。因此，我的项目具有原创性，既是因为它对保罗、新约和早期基督教的研究做出了贡献，也是因为它对我们自己的现代世界的潜在伦理应用。

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.