Inauguration of The Centre for Social Scientific Study of the Bible

Date:: Friday 3rd May 2013

Paul and the Gift: Gift-theory, Grace and Critical Issues in the Interpretation by Prof John Barclay

Location: Waldegrave Drawing Room, Strawberry Hill Campus When: Friday 3rd May, 5.30pm Contact: For more information and to RSVP, please email Sam Chant on samantha.chant@smuc.ac.uk More Information: As part of the inauguration of St Mary's Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible, Prof John Barclay (Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University) presents 'Paul and the Gift: Gift-theory, Grace and Critical Issues in the Interpretation of Paul.' This lecture attempts three tasks: first, to use the anthropology of gift and historical studies of gift-giving in the Graeco-Roman world (including ancient Judaism) to raise appropriate questions about Pauline and early Christian discourses concerning gift; second, to outline ways in which gift-giving can be and has been ‘perfected’, that is, drawn out to an absolute or extreme form for the sake of definition or polemical advantage; and third, on this basis, to outline some of the key configurations of grace in the history of reception of Paul, and thus to clarify central issues currently mired in conceptual confusion. After the lecture there will be an opportunity to ask questions and debate. Inauguration of the Centre for Social Scientific Study of the Bible May 2013 (pdf)