Paul, Founder of Churches: A Study in Light of the Evidence for the Role of Founder-Figures in the Hellenistic-Roman Period
In: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament - Band 292
Hauptbeschreibung: The apostle Paul's understanding of his role and responsibilities in transferring the cult of Jesus Christ to new lands to found new groups devoted to this immigrant son of God is not unique. His modus operandi cannot be adequately explained in terms of Jewish precedents. Rather, Paul's pattern is a creative appropriation of the enduring Greek model of the founder, the key figure in Greek imaginings of the formation of social space, whether colony or cult. Cult foundation inscriptions as well as literary descriptions show that such foundations were laid according to persisten