Paul, Apostle of the Living God

In recent years, there has been a significant surge of interest in Paul of Tarsus's God-talk. However, scholars have given little attention to the integral role that the living God epithet found in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 2 Corinthians 3:3, 6:16; and Romans 9:25-26 plays in Paul's epistolary discourse. By using this language, Paul presents God as an active and dynamic presence in the lives of God's people, delivering them in times of crisis and dwelling with them in their houses as a sign of covenantal faithfulness. In Paul, Apostle of the Living God, Mark Goodwin carefully examines the tradition of living God language in biblical, Jewish, and early Christian sources and then demonstrates the ways in which Paul adopted this tradition in his own letters. As he explores Paul's letters and language, Goodwin concludes that the epithet makes Paul's wider argument in 2 Corinthians 2:14-7:4 clearer and more coherent. In the end, Goodwin says, Paul's use of the living God tradition helps us to appreciate Paul's understanding of himself as an apostle of the living God, commissioned and sent out to bring new life to the Gentiles. Mark J. Goodwin is Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Dallas. For: Seminarians; clergy; graduate students and specialists>