Apocalyptic Paul and Insights from Interdisciplinary Studies: Social-Scientific Approaches and Cognitive Linguistic Approaches

Apocalyptic Paul and Insights from Interdisciplinary Studies: Social-Scientific Approaches and Cognitive Linguistic Approaches

Kai-hsuan CHANG

The application of interdisciplinary studies to the New Testament texts has become a significant trend in the field. This has especially been the case within Pauline Studies in the last fifty years. In this paper, I review the way in which the development of recent perspectives on Paul has been influenced by social-scientific approaches. In so doing, I indicate not only the confluence of social-scientific approaches and the New Perspective on Paul but also a significant turn in the interpretations of the Apocalyptic Paul caused by the applications of sociological theories . In the light of these approaches, the Paul in the understanding of the Apocalyptic camp, just like the Paul as interpreted by the New Perspective camp, also builds up an alternative community that arises within the existing social structure. However, I argue that, while this sociological turn in the Apocalyptic camp has been helpful, there is an unresolved gap between the sociological description of Paul and his community on the one hand and the apocalyptic understanding of Paul's theology on the other. Specifically, interpreting within the framework of the Apocalyptic Paul, how do we understand God's apocalyptic intervention in Christ and describe the process by which this apocalyptic event could be delivered to transform a social reality in history and build up an alternative community? My proposal is that cognitive linguistics is capable of dealing with the cognitive process within the human mind by which some complex and innovative ideas can be created through metaphorical expressions on the basis of simple and concrete experiences. I will apply cognitive linguistic tools to Paul's metaphorical expressions about the Christ event and resurrection, and demonstrate how these metaphors can contribute to the building of an alternative community.