'Grace no longer grace': Participant relationality in early imperial discussions of χάρις and its implications for Pauline theology

Recent scholarship on Pauline χάρις has been dominated by the assumption that Graeco-Roman and Hellenistic Jewish authors of the early principate treat the concept of χάρις as a do ut des transaction—a foil against which Paul’s discussions of divine χάρις are sharply contrasted. This thesis calls this dichotomy into question by tracing the distinction between ‘instrumental’ and ‘participant’ χάρις through the writings of both Paul and his Graeco-Roman and Hellenistic Jewish contemporaries. Chapter 1 analyses the early imperial images of χάρις as a ballgame and a divine dance, arguing that their use as didactic devices by Seneca, Plutarch, and others encourages a participant approach to χάρις—one which locates the good of the χάρις interaction in the relationship it creates or fosters—as opposed to an instrumental perspective, which locates the good in some end external to the relationship. Chapter 2 traces the reception and development of this idea in descriptions by Philo and Josephus of various exemplary and impious human responses to the χάρις of God. Chapters 3 and 4 investigate five clusters of participant χάρις language across the Pauline corpus. Chapter 3 underlines the significance of Paul’s characteristic greeting formula, analyses the triangulation of χάρις in his prayers of thanksgiving for addressees, and explicates his exhortations to community-building generosity as a participant response to God’s abundant provision of χαρίσματα. Chapter 4 highlights the many roles of Christ in Paul’s vision of the ongoing divine-human χάρις relationship. Focussing in particular on his letter to the Romans and his closing χάρις benedictions, this chapter draws out the implications of Christ’s incarnational role as divine gift to humanity, his exemplary role as recipient of God’s participant χάρις, and his ongoing mediatory role as the risen and exalted Lord.