03/04/2022
An absolute must to read in Online First of the Biblical Annals:
Susan Eastman, Christian Experience and Paul’s Logic of Solidarity: the Spiral Structure of Romans 5–8
https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/ba/article/view/13513
Taking Romans 5:1–5 as a blueprint for a trajectory of hope in chapters 5–8, Ihe essay discusses three textual “detours” where Paul interrupts that trajectory: a rhetorical performance of life under sin (7:7–25), a depiction of union with all creation in suffering and hope (8:18–27), and a cry of lament (8:26). These rhetorical interruptions evoke Christian experience in solidarity with all creation - a solidarity that in turn displays Christ’s redemptive participation in the depths of all human dereliction, and thereby evokes hope.
This essay investigates key aspects of the rhetorical structure of Romans 5–8 in relationship to Paul’s depictions of Christian experience. Taking Romans 5:1–5 as a blueprint for a trajectory of hope in chapters 5–8, I discuss three textual “detours” where Paul interrupts that trajectory...