On Wednesday 18th March, Sr Patsy MacDonald gave a lively and engaging discourse to the Cleveland Newman Circle on the theology of St Paul using three texts and the theme of Eschatology.
She outlined something of St Paul’s theological progress, beginning with 1 Thessalonians, written in 51AD, when Christians had a vivid awareness that Jesus had gone but were expecting him back – very soon (the next day, week or month even). Next, she looked at 1 Corinthians 15, which was written, using the Jewish Rabbinic Tradition of passing on what he had received, five or six years later for an energetic and interesting community of Gentiles. St Paul pointed out that the first disciples were in fact witnesses to The Resurrection and that in order to be a professed Christian, one really did have to believe this. Finally, Sr Patsy considered 2 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 4:16, written yet a few years later still, in which he introduced the notion of Judgement.
Her wide-ranging academic knowledge shone through as she dipped into relevant verses dotting about the texts, explaining their meaning and translating phrases from the original as appropriate. She highlighted St Paulís practical, pastoral theology which, much like Newman himself, was complex but very much based on the needs of the local community. Initially, the Early Christians had believed with absolute certainty that what Jesus said truly was The Word of the Lord; that a Christian prophet had spoken. St Paul consoled the Thessalonians, who were concerned that those who were still alive at the Second Coming would precede those who had already died, by telling them not to worry; that God will see to it (1 Thess 4:15). The Thessalonians, therefore, conceived of a vertical plane in which the Lord would come down at the trumpet of God and the voice of the Archangel, in a similar way to how an important person would be treated who visited their city.
By the time he was writing to the people of Corinth, his thought had developed such that he now recognised the need for a bodily change after death. Anthropology at the time was teaching what it means to be human. St Paul was asking what it means to be divine. He came to the conclusion that what matters, in the end, is that Resurrection depends totally on what God has done in Christ. Godís raising of Jesus from the dead really is foundational to faith in that Jesusí fate is paradigmatic for those who follow him. Christ was the first fruits offered for the rest of mankind. He was a bearer of destiny, chosen to put right what Adam had succeeded in messing up. At no time was God subjected to Jesus; Christian thought was not yet Trinitarian, but rather Jesus was thought of as the Son of God. However, St Paul had to make language up as he went along, using oxymorons such as spiritual body, in an attempt to explain how our physical beings become spiritual; how we are the descendants of Adam but become the image of Christ. Hence, his earlier instruction that what you do with your body really does matter for it is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19).
It is not until 2 Corinthians 5, however, that he talks more openly about the change and what it means to be embodied as opposed to what it means to be with the Lord. Death, he tells us, is not quite what it seems but we should trust in God that it will happen and that such confidence is the basis of Resurrection. However, he goes on to say, wherever we are we should make it our aim, out of necessity, to please him, for all of us must appear before the judgement seat of Christ to receive recompense for what has been done in the body, good or evil (2 Cor 5:10).
Finally, Sr Patsy outlined from other Pauline texts what God is like, therefore what Jesus is like and subsequently how we are to behave as a result. It is through Godís Spirit that God will give life to our mortal bodies (Rom 8:11), and the Lord Jesus will transform our bodies into the likeness of his glorious body (Phil 3:20). Her lively and innovative style was stimulating and enjoyable, leaving everyone present with a thirst for more intimate knowledge of St Paul and his writings.