Making Sense of Paul | Christ Church New Malden

Making Sense of Paul - Alternate Sunday and Monday evenings

This, the first of the 'Sunday School for Grown-Ups' courses, ran over 25 sessions from November 2022 to March 2024.

The first sessions served as a background, by considering the influences of the first century world on Paul, before moving on to the ways Paul and his theology has been interpreted over the last 500 years, from Martin Luther to more recent perspectives. We then moved on to the main part of the course, which addressed each of Paul's letters in turn, in their most likely chronological order. These sessions would typically establish the context for the letters, relating it to the story of Paul in Acts before delving into the content, highlighting the structure of the letter and drawing out key themes.

All sessions were led by Stephen Kuhrt, except where otherwise stated.

Session	Topic and scope
1	Paul and his World. We began by thinking about the influences upon Saul of Tarsus and how these shaped him - more specifically, the Roman, Greek and Jewish worlds.
2	Perspectives on Paul: Part 1. Covering the so-called 'old perspective on Paul', which dominated biblical scholarship from Martin Luther down to around the late 1970s, which understood his theology and gospel to be built around 'Justification by Faith'. The session referenced a talk on Martin Luther, given by Stephen Kuhrt , on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, which you can listen to here.
3	Perspectives on Paul: Part 2. Addressing the so-called 'New Perspective on Paul' - and in particular the contributions of Ed Sanders, Jimmy Dunn and Tom Wright - which sought to challenge the Lutheran consensus.
4	Perspectives on Paul: Part 3. Considering the reactions against the 'New Perspective' as well as other more recent developments in Pauline theology, covering so-called 'apocalyptic', socio-historical / sociological, and political readings.
5	Paul's Letter to the Galatians. Covering the whole of what many scholars consider to be his earliest letter preserved in the New Testament, and its central theme of 'Justification by Faith'.
6	Paul's First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians. The church at Thessalonica was established by Paul during his Second Missionary Journey.
7	Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (Part 1). Covering the first seven chapters of one of the longest and most varied of Paul's letters.
8	Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (Part 2). Moving on to chapters 8 to 14, including the most famous part of the letter - chapter 13 on love.
9	Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (Part 3). Covering the final two chapters, particularly Chapter 15 where Paul directly speaks about the resurrection, the session highlighted how this holds the whole letter and its teachings together.
10	Paul's Letter to the Philippians. Covering the whole of the letter and drawing out its central theme of konoinia - 'fellowship' or 'partnership'.
11	Paul's Letter to the Colossians and Philemon. Being two of the so-called 'Prison Letters', apparently written around the same time, the first to the church at Colossae, the second to one of its members.
12	Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. The whole of the letter, from Paul's vision of the power of God through Jesus and the unity of the church, to his practical exhortations to live out its unity, service and holiness.
13	Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians (Part 1). The first seven chapters and its key message of the strength of weakness in revealing God's saving action in Jesus Christ.
14	Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians (Part 2). Moving on to chapters 8 to 13, with its teaching on giving as well as the standing of Paul's ministry and the so-called 'Super-Apostles'.
15	Paul's Letter to the Romans (Part 1). The first of its four sections, comprising chapters 1 to 4, which highlights the crisis in God's covenant plan and its resolution through Jesus the Messiah.
16	Paul's Letter to the Romans (Part 2). Chapters 5 to 8, where Paul retells the story of the human race from Adam to the new creation.
17	Paul's Letter to the Romans (Part 3). Chapters 9 to 11, where Paul addresses God's continued faithfulness to His covenant promises in response to Israel's continuing unbelief.
18	Paul's Letter to the Romans (Part 4). The final section of the letter - chapters 12 through 16 - covering the faithfulness and fellowship of the Christian community living in the light of the new creation.
19	Paul's First Letter to Timothy. The session first considered questions surrounding the authenticity of the Pastoral Letters before looking at the first of these, which encourages Timothy to remain in Ephesus to establish the orthodoxy and orderliness of the church there.
20	Paul's Letter to Titus and Second Letter to Timothy. Covering the final two Pastoral Letters, the first encouraging Titus to remain in Crete and continue to instruct the young church there; the second a deeply personal message of encouragement to Timothy.
21	Paul in the Acts of the Apostles. Considering Paul's ministry as recorded in Acts, which tells the story of the growth of the early church.
22	The Theology of Paul. This session sought, in the light of our study of Paul, to draw together the main aspects of his theology.
23	Paul and Homosexuality. Looking at Paul's statements on same-sex relationships and focusing mainly on the case put forth by Matthew Vines in God and the Gay Christian as to how these and similar passages in the Old Testament should be interpreted, together with critical responses.
24	Paul on Prayer. Katy Loffman led this session, looking at some of Paul's prayers in his letters and in the Acts of the Apostles.
25	Paul's Letter to American Christians. Led by Nathan Larkin, this session looked at 'Paul's Letter to American Christians', as imagined by its author, Martin Luther King.