Early patristic readings of Romans

This volume traces the earliest receptions of "Paul's Letter to the Romans", seeking to elucidate their hermeneutical strategies as they endorse, explain, construct, and rework Romans as a normative authority. These early patristic readings of Romans by Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Origen, and others are pivotal. Long before Augustine and Luther they set formative interpretive principles upon which is built the imposing yet diverse edifice of subsequent interpretations and uses of Romans. By the end of the second century CE, the letters of Paul had established themselves as authoritative bearers of divine revelation. Yet the task of tracing the earliest receptions of "Paul's Letter to the Romans" is challenging, because the thought world of the early Christians is remote, molten, largely oral, and as such, hard to trace. The essays in this volume rise to the challenge by explicating significant aspects of Paul's reception among early Christian readers. They ask: how did these readers construct Paul's view of pagan and Christian relations? Of the Gentiles? Of Jewish salvation? Of faith? Of resurrection? Of Christian Platonist principles? Contributors to this volume demonstrate specific ways in which Romans was appropriated to define the philosophy of Christian Platonism, a development which has had an enduring impact upon the creation of a Christian paideia.Introduction : Romans in light of early patristic receptions / Kathy L. Gaca and L.L. Welborn -- Paul's uncommon declaration in Romans 1:18-32 and its problematic legacy for pagan and Christian relations / Kathy L. Gaca -- A response : Reading Paul in a frontier context : moral criticism and Paul's picture of "gentiles" '/ Halvor Moxnes -- Jewish salvation in Romans according to Clement of Alexandria in Stromateis 2 / Michael Joseph Brown -- A response : Is Clement of Alexandria a supersessionist? / Kathy L. Gaca -- The soteriology of Romans in Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 2 : faith, fear, and assimilation to God / L.L. Welborn -- A response : elucidating Romans in Stromateis 2 / Kathy L. Gaca -- Irenaeus as reader of Romans 9-11 : olive branches / Susan L. Graham -- Irenaeus reads Romans 8 : resurrection and renovation / D. Jeffrey Bingham -- A response to Jeffrey Bingham and Susan Graham : networks and Noah's sons / Jouette M. Bassler -- A response to Jeffrey Bingham and Susan Graham / Christoph Markschies -- Origen's readings of Romans in Peri Archon : (re)constructing Paul / Ruth Clements -- A response: Origen's Christian platonist readings of Romans / Peter Gorday -- Jews and gentiles in Origen's Commentarii in epistulam Pauli ad Romanos / Sze-kar Wan -- A response to R. Clements and S. Wan : will the real Paul please stand up! / Charles H. Cosgrove -- Irenaeus's and Origen's treatment of Paul's Epistle to the Romans : an assessment / Dieter Georgi