"The notion of faith experienced a remarkable surge in popularity among early Christians, with Paul as its pioneer. Yet what was the wider cultural significance of the pistis word group? This comprehensive work contextualizes Paul's faith language withinGraeco-Roman cultural discourses, highlighting its semantic multifariousness and philosophical potential. Based on an innovative combination of cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis, it explores 'faith' within social, political, religious, ethical, and cognitive contexts. While challenging modern individualist and irrational conceptualizations, this book shows how Paul uses pistis to creatively configure philosophical narratives of his age and propose Christ as its ultimate embodiment"--
What was the cultural and philosophical significance of Paul’s faith language? By exploring a variety of discourses in Graeco-Roman literature, this work offers a comprehensive mapping of its multifaceted meaning leading to fresh interpretations of pistis usage in the apostle’s letters.
Contents
Preface
Text Editions and Translations of Ancient and Modern Texts
List of Figures
List of Bibliographical Abbreviations
Inclusion of Previously Published Work by the Same Author
1 Introduction: Tracing the Semantics and Discourses of Faith in Pauls
World
1.1Another Work on Faith?
1.2Faith: How a Semantic Domain Approach Helps to Overcome Essentializing
Word Studies
1.3Paul: How Discourse Analysis Helps to Overcome Canonomania and
Parallelomania
1.4Philosophers: How Philosophical Contextualization Helps to Overcome
Anachronistic Conceptions of Faith
1.5The Route Travelled: Scope, Terminology, Method, and Outline
Part 1: A Pistis Cosmology
2 Pistis, Theos, and Logos: Faith as the Standard of Philosophical Religion
2.1Disentangling Modern and Ancient Semantics of Faith
2.2The Problem of Approaching Religion and Faith in the Ancient World
2.3The Theologia Tripartita: Theorizing Religion in Graeco-Roman
Discourses
2.4Faith as a Indication of Philosophical Religion in Pauls Letters
2.5Conclusion
3 Pistis, Dikaiosyn, and Nomos: Faith as Unwritten Law of the Golden Age
3.1Paul the Universalist? New Perspectives on an Old Debate
3.2Justification by Faith: an Outline of the Debated Issues
3.3The Golden Age and Unwritten Law: Juridical Usage of Pistis in
Graeco-Roman Discourses
3.4Faith as Unwritten Law and Christ as Living Law in Pauls Letters
3.5Conclusion
Part 2: A Pistis Mentality
4 Pistis, Doxa, and Epistm: Faith as Firm, Human Conviction Anticipating
Divine Knowledge
4.1Faith Opposed to Knowledge?
4.2The Stigma of Early Christian Pistis Being a Low-Level Epistemological
Category
4.3A Fideistic Turn in Platos Wake? Epistemological Usage of Pistis in
Graeco-Roman Discourses
4.4Pistis as Firm but Provisional Knowledge of God in Pauls Letters
4.5Conclusion
5 Pistis, Peith, and Sophia: Faith as Transformative Persuasion of the Wise
5.1Is Faith a Religious Acceptance as True?
5.2The Dichotomy of Greek Cognitive Conviction and Jewish Relational Faith
5.3Rhetoric and Dialectic, Scepticism and Dogmatism, Sophism and Sagehood:
Persuasive Usage of Pistis in Graeco-Roman Discourses
5.4Faith as Transformative Persuasion in Pauls Letters
5.5Conclusion
6 Pistis, Ethos, and Mimsis: Faith as Attitude and Virtue Imitating the
Divine
6.1Faith and Works: an Unhappy Couple?
6.2Faith in Christ versus Faithfulness of Christ and the Key Discourse of
Imitation
6.3Character Formation and Philosophical Imitation: Ethical Usage of Pistis
in Graeco-Roman Discourses
6.4The Mimetic Chain of Faith and Faithfulness in Pauls Letters
6.5Conclusion
Part 3: A Pistis Society
7 Pistis, Charis, and Dynamis: Faith as Transjuridical and Transethnic Bond
of Trust
7.1On the Crossroads of Faith and Grace, Imperialism and Benefaction, and
Old and New Perspectives
7.2Pauline Faith and Grace as Responses to Graeco-Roman Imperialism and
Benefaction
7.3A Religious, Bridging, Asymmetrical, Reciprocal, Universal, and Interior
Virtue: Public Usage of Pistis in Graeco-Roman Discourses
7.4The Proclamation of a Transjuridical and Transethnic Bond of Trust in
Pauls Letters
7.5Conclusion
8 Pistoi, Hagioi, and Apistoi: Faith as Philosophical-Religious Group
Identity
8.1How to Make More Semantic Sense of the Reverse of Pistis
8.2Denouncing All Outsiders or Criticizing Particular Antagonists?
Us-Versus-Them Thinking by Pagans and Paul
8.3Identifying the Faithless: Social-Religious Usage of Pistis in
Graeco-Roman Discourses
8.4Apistia as a Polyvalent and Deviantizing Boundary Marker in Pauls
Letters
8.5Conclusion
9 Concluding Reflections: Paul beyond the Philosophers Faith
9.1The Distinctiveness of Pauls Contribution to Discourses of Pistis
9.2A Pauline Response to Present-Day Discourses of Faith
Bibliography
Index
Suzan Sierksma-Agteres, Ph.D. (2023, University of Groningen) is Assistant Professor of New Testament at the Protestant Theological University in the Netherlands. Combining expertise in classics and theology, she focuses on the interactions between early Christian thought and ancient philosophical traditions.
