New publication: Die älteste Sammlung paulinischer Briefe und die Entstehung der kanonischen Paulusbriefsammlung

Markus Vinzent
Die älteste Sammlung paulinischer Briefe und die Entstehung der kanonischen Paulusbriefsammlung
Narr Francke Attempto publishing house (Tübingen), 2025
ISBN: 978-3-381-12691-0
2400 pages (hardcover)
420 EUR

The earlier collection presents a Paul who is, in many respects, radically different. In his writings, both women and men are apostles and prophets; slavery is absent; there is no condemnation of homosexuality; he explicitly renounces any claim to the inheritance of Israel; and he proclaims not a God of judgment or vengeance, but an entirely unfamiliar God – kind and peaceable.

Although this ten-letter collection has been the subject of scholarly investigation before, only fragments were previously known. Thanks to meticulous comparisons of manuscripts and various patristic testimonies – including a commentary on this collection from the early third century and other ancient sources – as well as the creation and publication of an extensive word concordance (2024), and above all the use of artificial intelligence, digital humanities tools, and computer-based data mining, the initial reconstruction of the Greek text has now become possible.

Vinzent led the research project, based at the Max Weber Centre, which brought together specialists from the USA (M. Bilby, K.L. Lotharp), England (J. Bull), and Germany (G. Röhser, Bonn; M. Klinghardt and J. Heilmann, Dresden; M. Vinzent, Erfurt).

The reconstruction, complete with an introduction, detailed commentary, and a German translation of the ten letters, will be published in the coming days by Narr Francke Attempto (Tübingen) in three extensive volumes. A thematic introduction with a parallel translation (comparing the ten-letter collection with their New Testament counterparts), designed for a broader audience, will be released on 14 July by Herder Verlag (Freiburg).

The author
Professor Markus Vinzent taught the history of theology at King's College London (2010–2022) and is a fellow at the Max Weber Centre for Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt.