Open AccessPaulus i Aristoteles’ hønsegård
Author(s) -
Gitte Buch-Hansen
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
dansk teologisk tidsskrift
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.101
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1902-3898
pISSN - 0105-3191
DOI - 10.7146/dtt.v77i1.105698
Subject(s) - baptism , judaism , sacrifice , ideology , philosophy , second temple period , theology , jewish identity , paideia , kinship , apostle , lineage (genetic) , classics , history , sociology , anthropology , biology , law , politics , political science , biochemistry , gene
In modern kinship, biology represents the norm and adoptionthe exception. But in Greek antiquity and in Roman Hellenism, weface a tension between the patrilinear ideology and the fact that onlyin the case of the mother, biological parenthood could be established.In order to make up for this ideological deficit, adoption came to beranked higher than biology. Through rituals of sacrifice and cleansing,the child was separated from the mother, adopted by the father andincorporated into his lineage. However, Second Temple Judaism representsan exception to this tradition. Apparently, being of Abraham’sseed was too strong an identity marker to be dispensed with. The articledemonstrates how Paul – as the apostle to the Gentiles – navigatesbetween Jewish genealogy and Hellenistic ideas about generation. Thesolution to Paul’s predicament is found in 1 Cor 15:45: as spiritualizedbody, Christ has literally become Abraham’s seed. Thus, through theirreception of Christ’s spirit in baptism, believers are incorporated intothe Abrahamic lineage. But in order to understand the ethnic reconfiguration which takes place in Pauline baptism, we must have recourse to Aristotle’s reflections on poultry farming in his treatise, De Generatione Animalium.