Lukas Hagel disputerar vid lunds universitet

Lukas Hagel försvarar sin doktorsavhandling Expressions of Messiahism: Reading Romans with Paul within Judaism vid CTR, Lunds universitet den 29:e oktober, kl. 14.15 (hörsal C121, LUX). Opponent är Matthew Thiessen, Associate Professor i Religious Studies vid McMaster University.

Sammanfattning

An emerging question in Pauline studies, particularly in relation to the Paul Within Judaism perspective, concerns Jesus’ role as the Jewish Messiah and to what extent it matters to understand him as such within the letters of Paul, specifically in relation to the Jewish people. This study therefore examines the significance of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and the messianic event for the Jewish people. For several Paul Within Judaism scholars, the messianic event did not affect the Jewish people in any significant capacity. The study engages with these claims and argues that Jesus, in his capacity as Messiah, has been sent by God to confirm God’s promises to his people, Israel, and that the salvific aspect of the messianic event concerns the Jews as well as the non-Jews.

The study focuses on the Letter to the Romans and analyzes it alongside five other messianic texts: 1 Enoch, Psalms of Solomon, 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and fragments from the Qumran caves. The study approaches Romans as a Second Temple messianic text in which Jesus is the Messiah. By analyzing Romans together with other messianic texts, the study offers a novel perspective on how the Messiah of Romans is significant for the Jewish people.

The study utilizes Gérard Genette’s theory of hypertextuality and imitation to engage with the texts as expressions of messiahism. The phrase is deliberately similar to messianism, which has been used either too narrowly or broadly and as such is difficult to use as a feasible category for interpretation. Messiahism is used to bring a new perspective to how messianic texts relate to each other. The study does not attempt to argue for literary dependency between texts, but rather focuses on how these texts express notions regarding their Messiah and how that can be helpful in interpreting Romans—particularly the Messiah’s significance for the Jewish people. Thus, the study argues that the Messiah brings to the Jewish people—and to the entire world—the promised life with God anticipated in the Torah throughout the centuries.

The study argues that Jesus the Messiah is depicted in Romans as the Deliverer of the Jewish people, the savior through which God fulfills the promises to his people. Thus, the Messiah is portrayed as the one who the Jewish people are encouraged to confess as their Lord, trusting that God raised him from the dead, and that Jesus is now ruling over the living and the dead as the Davidic king. Furthermore, the study finds that Romans contains traces of depicting Jesus as a priestly Messiah, something that is more prevalent in the Letter to the Hebrews. The study concludes that Jesus as Messiah becomes most intelligible for the Jewish people as both king and priest—the Righteous one who will help God’s people in the end times to reach salvation and righteousness, a life with God.