Paul on Marriage and Celibacy : The Hellenistic Background of 1 Corinthians 7

by Deming, Will

• ISBN13: 9780802839893
• ISBN10: 0802839894
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co

Summary

Foreword by Raymond F. CollinsPaul is traditionally seen as one of the founders of Christian sexual asceticism. As early as the second century C.E. church leaders looked to him as a model for their lives of abstinence. But is this a correct reading of Paul? What exactly did Paul teach on the subjects of marriage and celibacy? Will Deming here answers these questions -- often in provocative new ways.By placing Paul's statements on marriage and celibacy against the backdrop of ancient Hellenistic society, Deming constructs a coherent picture of Paul's views. He shows that the conceptual world in which Paul lived and wrote had substantially vanished by 100 C.E., and terms like "sin," "body," "sex," and "holiness" began to acquire moral implications quite unlike those Paul knew. Paul conceived of marriage as asocial obligation that had the potential of distracting Christians fromChrist. For him, celibacy was the single life, free from such distraction, not a life of saintly denial. Sex, in turn, was not sinful but natural, and sex within marriage was both proper and necessary.

Author Biography

Will Deming is associate professor of theology at the University of Portland, Oregon

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Preface to the Second Edition	p. xiv
Abbreviations	p. xvi
Introduction	p. xix
The Motivation for Celibacy in 1 Corinthians 7: A Review of Scholarly Opinion	p. 1
Paul in the Light of Stoic and Cynic Materials	p. 2
Motivations for Celibacy from Hellenistic Judaism	p. 6
Asceticism and Revelation	p. 6
Asceticism as Marriage to Sophia	p. 8
Motivations for Celibacy from First-Century Christianity	p. 12
A Sociological Approach	p. 12
Fear and Confusion as the Cause of Celibacy	p. 12
Secondary Christological Motivations	p. 15
Enthusiasm and Realized Eschatology	p. 17
The Use of Second-, Third-, and Fourth-Century Sources	p. 28
General Considerations	p. 28
1 Corinthians 7 as a Case of Gnostic Asceticism	p. 30
Spiritual Marriages	p. 35
Conclusion	p. 43
Addendum	p. 44
The Stoic-Cynic Marriage Debate	p. 47
Issues and Dynamics in the Stoic-Cynic Marriage Debate	p. 48
The Fifth to the Third Century B.C.E.	p. 58
Anaxagoras, Antiphon, Democritus	p. 58
Xenophon	p. 59
Early Cynics	p. 60
The Academy, the Peripatetics, and Epicurus	p. 61
Early Stoics	p. 64
The Second to the First Century B.C.E.	p. 66
Antipater of Tarsus and Ocellus Lucanus	p. 66
Cynic Epistles	p. 67
Arius and Cicero	p. 70
The First to the Middle of the Second Century C.E.	p. 73
Seneca	p. 73
Musonius Rufus	p. 75
Quintilian, Theon, and Dio Chrysostom	p. 76
Hierocles the Stoic and Epictetus	p. 78
The Middle of the Second Century and Beyond	p. 84
First-Century Judaism and Early Christianity	p. 86
Philo of Alexandria	p. 87
Pseudo-Phocylides and Josephus	p. 93
The New Testament	p. 94
Second- and Third-Century Christian Apologists	p. 97
Clement of Alexandria	p. 98
Tertullian	p. 101
Jerome and Beyond	p. 102
Conclusion	p. 104
Stoic and Cynic Elements in 1 Corinthians 7	p. 105
A "Cynic" Position for Married Christians: 7:1-7	p. 107
Marriage out of Passion: 7:8-9	p. 128
Marriage as Slavery to an Outside Influence: 7:10-24	p. 129
The Unholiness of a Non-Christian Spouse as Grounds for Divorce (7:10-15a)	p. 129
Marriage to an Unbeliever as a Form of Slavery (7:15b-24)	p. 145
Paul's Argument against Marriage by Reason of Adverse Circumstances: 7:25-28	p. 169
Apocalyptic "Circumstances": 7:29-31	p. 174
The Commitments of Married Life and Finding Time for the Lord: 7:32-35	p. 193
Good and Better, Sin and Blessedness: 7:36-40	p. 202
A Nonascetic Interpretation of Paul	p. 207
Paul's Audience in 1 Corinthians 7	p. 208
Paul's Understanding of Marriage and Celibacy	p. 210
Preliminary Considerations	p. 210
Marriage and Celibacy for Married Christians	p. 213
Marriage and Celibacy for Single Christians	p. 214
Paul in the History of Christian Asceticism	p. 216
Antipater of Tarsus, from His On Marriage, SVF 3.254.23-257.10 (Stobaeis 4.507.6-512.7 W.-H.)	p. 221
Ocellus Lucanus: On the Nature of the Universe [Spurious] 43b-51	p. 231
Works Cited	p. 238
Indexes
Selected Names and Subjects	p. 264
Selected Scripture References	p. 267
Selected Greek Words and Phrases	p. 270
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