John Dominic Crossan, the eminent historical Jesus scholar, and Jonathan L. Reed, an expert in biblical archaeology, reveal through archaeology and textual scholarship that Paul, like Jesus, focused on championing the Kingdom of God----a realm of justice and equality----against the dominant, worldly powers of the Roman empire.
Many theories exist about who Paul was, what he believed, and what role he played in the origins of Christianity. Using archaeological and textual evidence, and taking advantage of recent major discoveries in Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Syria, Crossan and Reed show that Paul was a fallible but dedicated successor to Jesus, carrying on Jesus's mission of inaugurating the Kingdom of God on earth in opposition to the reign of Rome. Against the concrete backdrop of first--century Grego--Roman and Jewish life, In Search of Paul reveals the work of Paul as never before, showing how and why the liberating messages and practices of equality, caring for the poor, and a just society under God's rules, not Rome's, were so appealing.
Why 10 scrolls when Christianity's New Testament attributes 13 letters to the apostle Paul: letters to communities such as the Romans, Corinthians (twice), Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians (twice) and to individuals such as Timothy (twice), Titus and Philemon.
There is, however, a massive consensus in modern scholarship that those three letters to Timothy and Titus were written in Paul's name but long after his death. It would seen, then, that around 1265 a Byzantine artist at Sopoćani already accepted that viewpoint -- hence, only 10 scrolls for 10 letters.
There is also a strong (but not massive) consensus among much of modern scholarship that a further three of those 10 letters were not written by Paul. In other words, we have seven letters certainly from the historical Paul (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon), three others probably not from him (Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians) and a final three certainly not from him (1-2 Timothy, Titus).
Those are all, of course, historical conclusions and not dogmatic presumptions. Paul of the authentic seven letters (Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon) is slowly but steadily morphed into the conservative Paul of the probably inauthentic threesome (Ephesians Colossians, 2 Thessalonians) and finally into the reactionary Paul of those certainly inauthentic ones (1-2 Timothy, Titus).
In other words, the radical Paul is being deradicalized, sanitized and Romanized. His radical views on, for example, slavery and patriarchy, are being retrofitted into Roman cultural expectations and Roman social presuppositions.
You have the right to be educated about gender issues
You have the right to be educated about gender-based violence
You have the right to be free of gender-stereotyping that would constrict your growth and potential
You have the right to express your femaleness on your own terms
You have the right to be treated like a human being:
-to be free of catcalls and lewd gestures from men and boys
-to be free of gazes and gawks from men and boys
You have the right to anger and resistance if you are treated like an object
You have the right to speak your voice free of ridicule and retaliation by boys and men
You have the right to be free of sexual harassment and sexual abuse in your home, school, playground, sidewalk, church, doctor’s office, sports teams, and EVERYWHERE.
You have the right to your own bodily boundaries
You have the right to be believed
You have the right to be listened to and understood deeply
You have the right to be protected from sexism by caring adults everywhere you go
You have the right to tell a trusted adult if someone has hurt you
You have the right to healing and justice if someone has hurt you
You have the right to tell a trusted adult if your dad mistreats your mom
You have the right to be respected in mind and spirit
You have the right to feel safe and be safe as a girl
You have the right to contribute to your community on an equal basis with boys
You have the right to have your femaleness equally and respectfully represented in text and symbol
You have the right to be free and happy in your own body
You have the right to evolve and pursue your dreams
You have the right to be in environments where women are safe, strong, visible, vocal, and free of male-domination
You have the right to be celebrated as a girl human being
Janice Sevre Duszynska ARCWP, center wears the stole that I gave her for her priestly ordination at demonstration where 70 Catholic protestors, including Janice were arrested at Capitol Hill on July 18, 2019 for their witness for justice and humane treatment of migrant children who are being detained at our southern border. Janice represents us all as we live Jesus' message of compassion and love.
Our Witness: by Janice Sevre-Duszynska
"We gathered in a park outside the Russell Senate Office Building with about 200 Catholics, including many nuns, to pray and protest the inhumane treatment of immigrants at the border and the denial of their rights to asylum. After prayers we walked to the Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building. Some of the participants got down on the floor and made the shape of a cross. Within five minutes, the Capitol Police began arresting 70 of us: 45 women and 25 men. We were taken to a Capitol Police maintenance garage for processing. After they removed our handcuffs as we got off the bus, they put on another set of handcuffs.?10 of the 70, including Max and myself, chose instead of paying a $50 fine, to appear in court on August 21st to challenge the government’s concentration camps which many of us find illegal and immoral. We remained there in heat and handcuffs for close to five hours.
We are very much looking forward to going to court to raise this issue of concentration camps on U.S. soil and the separation of children from their parents."
"A group of Catholics, wearing photos of migrant children who died in U.S. custody, was arrested Thursday as they protested the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Franciscan Action Network, a Catholic human rights group, planned the protest calling the border facility conditions a human rights violation and "contrary to religious teachings."
Photos shared by the religious groups show hundreds of participants demonstrated inside the Russell Senate Office Building.
"Images of children kept in deplorable and unsanitary conditions, without access to showers for weeks, and sleeping on concrete floors without blankets, and being detained incommunicado have compelled us to stand in solidarity and say, 'not in our name!'" said Sister Áine O’Connor, a protestor arrested Thursday, in a statement.
U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki said 70 individuals were arrested for “unlawfully demonstrating in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building.”
"Scripture reminds us that the Holy Family were once migrants who had to flee their country, and so our faith compels us to be people of compassion and mercy who welcome the strangers in our midst. We are at a pivotal moment of history that demands a faithful and moral response to stop this inhumanity once and for all," O'Connor said.
Sisters of Mercy, one of the protest's participating groups, tweeted video footage of the arrests showing four protesters lying on the ground in the center of the Senate building, surrounded by hundreds more bearing the faces of migrant children who died in U.S. custody.
Seventy people from Catholic advocacy groups were arrested in Washington, D.C. Thursday at a protest against the Trump administration's treatment of migrants and asylum-seekers, police said. The protesters had poured into the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill and recited the names of migrant children who died in U.S. custody.
The protest started on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol before entering the Senate building, where protesters packed into the lobby. They carried photos of the dead migrant children.
After entering the building, several protesters laid on the floor in the shape of the cross. Demonstrators also held a prayer vigil and sang lines from a spiritual song: "We shall not be moved. Just like the tree that's standing by the water, we shall not be moved."
"This was the second faith-based protest in Washington this week against the Trump administration's immigration policies and detainment of migrants. Ten Jewish protesters were arrested Tuesday for leaving to refuse the lobby of the ICE headquarters, according to the Washington Post. More than 100 protesters had entered the building.
At least six migrant children and a number of adults have died in federal custody, or soon after leaving it, following their detainment at the U.S. border. The U.S. government's own reports on the migrant detention centers found "dangerous overcrowding" and minors going days without hot meals. "
My Response:
We are called to cry out against the inhumane treatment of migrant children at our southern border. The conditions of overcrowding and abuse of asylum seekers and their children are unacceptable. As we express our concern for the humane treatment for these children and their families, let us remember that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were asylum seekers too. The bottom line for Christians is to ask ourselves what would Jesus do and then do it. "Whatsoever we do to the least of our sisters and brothers, we do to Christ. "
A demonstration to end the practice of detaining immigrant children takes place at the Russell Senate Office Building on Thursday. (Marlena Sloss/The Washington Post)
