Continuing Seminar: Paul's Letters

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SUN MON TUE    CONTINUING SEMINARS   SCHEDULE

SEMINAR'S HISTORY   AGM Assistance

Description

This seminar utilizes established and emerging methodologies to approach the figure of Paul and his letters. Papers are distributed a month in advance of the meeting. All are welcome to join the distribution list by contacting one of the co-conveners.  

Seminar Leader in 2026

• Timothy Milinovich, Dominican University
• Brian Lee, Loyola University Chicago

Program Details for 2026

  Presenter: Rafael Rodriguez

   Pittsburgh Theological Seminary 

  Manufacturing Debate: Locating 1 Thess 2:1–12 within the Rhetoric of 1 Thessalonians

  Abstract: The tone and function of 1 Thess 2:1–12 have recently become contested issues. For most of their reception history, these verses have been read as an "apostolic apology," a defense of the integrity and sincerity of the Pauline mission. Since the 1980s, a different reading of this passage has come to prominence, which reads 2:1–12 as paraenesis, providing the readers with a moral model to follow. This paper argues that the polemical, defensive reading of this passage conflicts with the rhetorical and historical situation for which the authors wrote 1 Thessalonians. The paraenetic reading, however, is susceptible to similar excesses as the polemical reading while also being unduly influenced by the ethical instructions later in the letter. In contrast to the polemical reading, this paper relocates the whole of 1 Thessalonians, including 2:1–12, to later in the autobiographical narrative of 1 Thessalonians 1–3. In contrast to the paraenetic reading, this paper identifies the function of 2:1–12 as part of the authors’ gratitude for their readers’ steadfast faithfulness. The result is a letter utterly free of censure, conflict, or correction, as Paul and Silvanus and Timothy express their relief and affection for the Thessalonian siblings. 

The paper can be found here: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jcQUuGKNeZBdMFXPjptkCGjhwkDCpKI8/edit 

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  Presenter: Olivia Steward Lester 

    Loyola University Chicago 

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  Business Meeting 

  This year we will be discussing several key topics during the business portion. The first will be to consider possible themes and presenters for 2027. 

  In addition, due to other obligations at Dominican and the CBA, Tim Milinovich will be stepping back from co-chairing the seminar, so we will be inviting discussion to find a replacement. Tim will be staying on to assist in the transition. Please reach out to Tim or Brian if you have any interest or questions ahead of the meeting. 

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HISTORY

• 2025

  • Presenter: Marcin Kowalski 

    The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland 

    “Interpersonal communication and emotions in Paul’s correspondence with the Philippians” 

    Philippians is one of Paul's most personal letters. The apostle sends it to the community in Philippi from prison, reporting on his plight and the progress of the gospel. In the letter, Paul uses techniques related to interpersonal communication (uncertainty reduction, self-disclosure, reciprocity, resolving doubts, equity) and often appeals to emotions (love, joy, empathy, longing, grief, pride). The purpose of the paper is to examine how the Letter to the Philippians corresponds with contemporary models of interpersonal communication and how the apostle uses emotions to construct ethos and community ties in Philippi.    

    Keywords: Philippians, emotions, interpersonal communication, ethos, community

  • Presenter: Wendy Cotter, CSJ, Ph.D

    Professor Emerita, Loyola University, Chicago 

    “‘Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle’ (Rom 1:1), The Resurrection of Paul to the Apostolic Tradition” 

    From the evidence of Paul's plans in Romans 15:17-33, Paul's few surviving letters, and the traditions about him in the Acts of the Apostles, this paper holds that Paul ultimately lost leadership of the very communities he founded, due to the Jerusalem community's adamantine refusal to recognize his self-claimed status as an apostle, with apostolic authority. Facing the futile effort to reclaim his apostleship and authority, and even his leadership in his communities, Paul first determined to have his communities recognized by Jerusalem, through the collection, and then leave the Greek East for the Roman West, Spain. Only his unexpected martyrdom in Rome, resulted in his resurrection in the eyes of the Church as an Apostle of Christ Jesus, at last.

  • Business Meeting 

    The seminar attendees use this time to plan for the following year. 

• 2024

  •  Presenter: Brian Lee, Loyola University Chicago

    "Ethnicity, Identity, and Agency: The Corinthian Ascetics Among the Proselytes and Godfearers" 

     While consideration of the historical profile of gentiles attracted to Judaism has been at the forefront of many recent attempts to make sense of Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians, little consideration has been given to how the general characteristics of this demographic population might shed light on the identity and characteristics of Paul’s gentile interlocutors in 1 Corinthians. This paper seeks to address this lacuna, arguing that gentiles attracted to Judaism, particularly as presented in philosophical terms in Hellenistic Jewish tradition, deserve special consideration in reconstructions of the identity and concerns of the Corinthian Christ-followers. I argue that consideration of this group, particularly in light of the problem of conceptualizing gentile “conversion” within the ethnic contours of ancient religion, supports a reconstruction of one of the Corinthian groups Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians as committed to a specific form of philosophical asceticism.  

  • Timothy Milinovich, Dominican University

    "Hidden Empire: Rethinking Colossians as Subversive Literature"

    The letter to the Colossians is consumed with the question of power: who rules whom, in what realm, by what logic, by what means, and for how long. While a number of recent studies have argued that the letter (whether or not by Paul) is subversive towards Roman imperial rule, this paper will use post-colonial and ecofeminist methods to show that the power dynamics in the letter reflect Roman principles of ruler/ruled and are not subversive. Rather, they appear to show an early attempt to merge Christian concepts with existing Roman political and social narratives and worldview. 

• 2023

  • Presenters:
    • Paul D. Wheatley, Nashotah House 
      "When Does Paul Develop the Concept of Baptism into Christ's Death? The Spirit, Baptism, and Death
      in Gal 2:19-4:17; Rom 6:3-5; 8:14-17"  
    • Presenter: Felipe de J. Legarreta, Loyola University of Chicago
      "The Spirit at Work in God's Children and in Creation, for Their Liberation: Romans 8" 

• 2022

  • Presenters:
    • Normand Bonneau, St. Paul University, Canada 
      "The Pauline Letters in the Sunday Lectionary: The Paschal Mystery and the Ekklesia" 
    • Margaret MacDonald, St. Mary's University, Canada 
      "The Education of Children in the Roman World and the Expansion of the Model of the Church as Household in the Pastorals" 

• 2021

  • Presenters:
    •  Ronald D. Witherup, P.S.S., Sulpician Generalate, Paris
      "Baptism in Galatians and a Question of Methodology"
    •  John Gillman, San Diego State University
      "Parresia in the Pauline Corpus”
    • Najeeb Haddad, Notre Dame of Maryland University
      "Hupotasso in Rom 13:1-7"
    • Normand Bonneau, Saint Paul University
      "Narrative and Its Theological Import in 1 Thessalonians"
    • Mark Goodwin, University of Dallas
      "Paul and Patristic Hermeneutics"
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