The Practice of the Body of Christ: Human Agency in Pauline Theology After MacIntyre by Colin Douglas Miller Department of Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Douglas Campbell, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Stanley Hauerwas, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Richard B. Hays ___________________________ Susan Eastman ___________________________ Warren Smith Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 ABSTRACT The Practice of the Body of Christ: Human Agency in Pauline Theology After MacIntyre by Colin Douglas Miller Department of Religion Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Douglas Campbell, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Stanley Hauerwas, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Richard B. Hays ___________________________ Susan Eastman ___________________________ Warren Smith An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Religion in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 Copyright by Colin Douglas Miller 2010 Abstract This dissertation begins a conversation between “apocalyptic” interpretations of the Apostle Paul and the contemporary revival in “virtue ethics.” It argues that the human actor’s place in Pauline theology has long been captive to theological concerns foreign to Paul and that we can discern in Paul a classical account of human action that Alasdair MacIntyre’s work helps to recover. Such an account of agency helps ground an apocalyptic reading of Paul by recovering the centrality of the church and its day-to-day Christic practices, specifically, but not exclusively, the Eucharist. To demonstrate this we first offer a critique of some contemporary accounts of agency in Paul in light of MacIntyre’s work. Three exegetical chapters then establish a “MacIntyrian” re-reading of central parts of the letter to the Romans. A concluding chapter offers theological syntheses and prospects for future research. iv ! For my wife Lisa v Contents !"#$%!&$’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’()! !&*+,-./01/2/+$#’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’(3! (+$%,04&$(,+’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’5! 5’62!&(+$7%(!+6&8!../+1/#6$,6$8/62,0/%+6#$4076,96:!4.’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’;! 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"(".(,1%!:87’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’<;D! "(,1%!:87’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’B5<! viii Acknowledgements This dissertation concludes doctoral work made possible by yearly Kearns Fellowships and tuition waviers from the Duke University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Deep thanks are due to my dissertation committee, and especially to Douglas Campbell and Stanley Hauerwas for their generosity, wisdom, time and guidance. I want to thank Prof. Philip Sellew of the Unviersity of Minnesota for his support in earlier days. For the support of friendship of various types I am thankful to Hans Arneson, the Thiessens, the Rigbys, the Van Warts, mom and dad, Concete, Sammie, Bishop William Gregg, the Rev. Rhonda Lee and St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church. My debt of gratitude to my wife Lisa is beyond words. ix Introduction VEpefa,nh ga.r h` ca,rij tou/ qeou/ swth,rioj pa/sin avnqrw,poij paideu,ousa h`ma/j( i[na avrnhsa,menoi th.n avse,beian kai. ta.j kosmika.j evpiqumi,aj swfro,nwj kai. dikai,wj kai. euvsebw/j zh,swmen evn tw/| nu/n aivw/ni) Titus 2:11-12 This dissertation seeks to forge connections between two movements in today’s theological disciplines. The first is the so-called “apocalyptic” interpretation of Paul and the second is often called “virtue ethics.” “Apocalyptic” names the movement of scholarship that followed on the heels of the work of Ernst Käsemann in the middle of the last century and was given formation most notably by J. Christiaan Beker, and J. Louis Martyn.1 Recently Douglas Campbell in his way and Susan Eastman in hers have taken up and extended this interpretive school.2 Close to the heart of such exegesis is the concern for the centrality of the revelation of Jesus Christ as the all-determining and world-making reality. In other words, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly, in Paul these apocalypticists find Karl Barth’s emphasis on the absolute primacy of Christology. As such, God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ cannot be secondary or subordinate to any prior systems of meaning, ideas, ethics, beliefs or principles. Christ himself is the reality, and everything must be seen in his dominating epistemic light. In 1The major works are J. Louis Martyn, Galatians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (TAB 33a; New York: Doubleday, 1997); Theological Issues in the Letters of Paul (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997); J. Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980); Paul’s Apocalyptic Gospel: The Coming Triumph of God (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982); The Triumph of God: The Essence of Paul’s Thought (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990). 2 Douglas Campbell, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009); Susan Eastman, Recovering Paul’s Mother Tongue: Language and Theology in Galatians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007). 1