Read 01-31

1) Reading for Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008

Reading focus:

For this week, Monday (1-28) and Thursday (today), we are focusing on the Apostle Paul and his Epistles (letters).

a) Thursday: 1Corinthians and Romans

Romans can be broken into 7 sections - see Ehrman p.358-360. Please read Romans through ch.14/beginning of 15. Ehrman's breakdown is helpful for this.

Focus:

1) Paul's conversion and its implications for his 'policy' in these letters

2) How Paul worked / gained members for the new faith

3) What are these letters about? How does Paul contend with the 'crises'?

Reading

Source Readings

a) The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1Corinthians)

b) The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Romans)

- The Source readings above are linked.

(They can also accessed in your Bible or at: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ (look under New Testament tab, then Letters of Paul)

Support Reading: Bart Ehrman The New Testament: A Historical Introduction

1) Paul and the Crises of His Churches. (This is a partial chapter, limited to disucssing 1Corinthians. We will probably not go over this in detail, but it is important to glean the gist of Paul's approach to the 'crisis'.)

2) The Gospel according to Paul: The Letter to the Romans

- The Support readings are linked

(You can print the whole article or select pages - Either way, make sure you have good notes with page refs.)