Resurrection in Paul: Cognition, Metaphor, and Transformation (Early Christianity and Its Literature Book 19)

Explore the embodied foundations of Paul's resurrection idealsIt is commonly recognized that Paul's resurrection ideals are bodily ideals, though this dictum is usually configured along literal and metaphorical lines. The realism of future resurrected bodies is disconnected from the metaphoricity of bodily transformation in the present. Drawing on cognitive linguistics, this fresh and innovative study addresses this problem. By eschewing the opposition of metaphor and realism, Tappenden explores the concepts and metaphors Paul uses to fashion notions of resurrection, and the uses to which those notions are put. Rather than asserting resurrection as a disembodied, cognicentric proposition, this book illuminates the body's central role in shaping and grounding the apostle's thought and writings.Features:Close examination of Paul's letters within multiple, interlocking cultural contextsProvides a novel and fresh approach to assessing (in)coherence across the undisputed lettersAddresses the materialist nature of early Christian and Judean resurrection ideals without compromising the metaphoricity of those ideals Frederick S. Tappenden is a Faculty Lecturer at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), where he teaches in the areas of New Testament and Christian Origins. He is the author of several articles on resurrection in early Judaism and early Christianity, as well as editor (with Carly Daniel-Hughes) of the forthcoming volume, Coming Back to Life: The Permeability of Past and Present, Mortality and Immortality, Death and Life in the Ancient Mediterranean. Read more