Discussion for 25th July

 Monday Evening, 25 July 2022, Unitarian Bible Study Group - John Carter

On Monday I am inviting you to engage in a bit of Biblical theology and reflection.
Using Paul, his conversation on the Gifts of the Spirit, we hopefully will converse about the text, and then reflect on the wider meaning of “gift” and what is the gift we as the beloved Unitarian community bring to the wider world, and wider conversation of divinity.
Background Material
There are 14 texts within what is called the New Testament that are attributed to Paul of Tarsus…….
“Paul must be evaluated on historical-critical and literary grounds. Comparative analysis of the letters reveals that not all of them are from the same hand. By focusing on the vocabulary, phrases, social situation, Christology and ecclesial understanding of the letters scholars can detect earlier and later voices.”
McGaughy, Lane; Dewey, Arthur J.; Hoover, Roy W.; Schmidt, Daryl D.. The Authentic Letters of Paul . Polebridge Press. Kindle Edition.
Following is the breakdown of these epistles or letters…..
Undisputed/Seen as Authentic Pauline epistles
First Epistle to the Thessalonians
Epistle to the Galatians
First Epistle to the Corinthians
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Epistle to the Philippians
Epistle to Philemon
Epistle to the Romans
Disputed as being Pauline
A) Deutero-Pauline epistles
Epistle to the Ephesians
Epistle to the Colossians
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
B ) Pastoral epistles
First Epistle to Timothy
Second Epistle to Timothy
Epistle to Titus
C) Anonymous Sermon
Epistle to the Hebrews
Paul’s use of contemporary Vice and Virtue lists:
While in this conversation I am not inviting us to explore this material, it is simply for your information. There is within Paul a oft used device called the Vice and Virtue list…
“5:16–23 The lists of vices and virtues are a commonplace in the ancient world.”
McGaughy, Lane; Dewey, Arthur J.; Hoover, Roy W.; Schmidt, Daryl D.. The Authentic Letters of Paul . Polebridge Press. Kindle Edition. Notes on Galatians
This is in fact a rhetorical device throughout Paul’s and the Pauline community, one could see it also in Jesus’ sermon on the mount (Matt) or his sermon on the plain (Luke) in the beatitudes and the woes.
Pauls expands this at times to list other important conversations, not just vice or virtue but also exhortation to “Jesus way of living”.
We know variations of the vice list: often the Pauline clobber texts are part of this…
Galatians 5.19-21
I Cor. 6.9-11
Romans 1 (esp 28-32)
Virtues list:
Galatians 5.22-26 (also known as the fruits of the Spirit….
Exhortation to “Jesus way of living”:
1 Thessalonians 5.4-8 & 12-22
Philippians 4.4-9
Romans 12.9-21, & 13.8-10
Liturgical or Theopoetic list:
These two I would argue is Paul doing using poetic fashion to express a deeper spiritual reality:
Galatians 3: 28
And this interesting note: “3:28 This may well be a baptismal formula or song known to the Galatians. It celebrates a transcendence of the normal social and political categories.”
McGaughy, Lane; Dewey, Arthur J.; Hoover, Roy W.; Schmidt, Daryl D.. The Authentic Letters of Paul . Polebridge Press. Kindle Edition.
Romans 8.37-39 also known as a hymn…
Gifts of the Spirit Lists:
In a way these are a list with commentary….
I Corinthians chapters 12 - 14. (Note chapter 13 is most likely a later addition to the epistle) as the three together, 12 is the list, 13 & 14 are commentary…
Romans 12.3-8…. Like the use in corinthians the text within 13.8-10 could be commentary and protection.
A couple of things to note….. the virtue/fruit of the spirit list is seen as universal for the followers of Jesus’ way….
The gifts are individual, but are given for the building of the beloved community, not for personal satisfaction or pleasure.
A Wider Conversation
Within the various religious communities of the Liturgical traditions, there is an understanding that each order (community)has a particular charism / gift. Each community when testing and training a noviciate looks to see how their particular gift is embodied by the individual.
To quote “charism is a particular gift “by which [the Spirit] makes the faithful ‘fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the church’”
So what would be the charism of the Unitarians as a Beloved Faith Community?
The UUA minister Galen Guengerich says it this way:
“What should be our defining religious discipline? While obedience, love, and even submission each play a vital role in the life of faith, my current conviction is that our defining discipline should be gratitude. In the same way that Judaism is defined by obedience, Christianity by love, and Islam by submission, I believe that Unitarian Universalism should be defined by gratitude.”
General Questions
Which of the various lists speak to you?
Which do not?
Is there away of interpreting the negative that gives us greater understanding?
Gifts of The Spirit
Of the two lists which do you prefer?
What gift do you find least important and why?
Which gift touches your heart?
The Unitarian Charism
What do you think of Guengerich’s assessment?
What would you define our gift?
Is it something that you can live out in your daily living?
6.30pm-7.30pm
Meeting ID: 823 7804 2367
Passcode: 460019

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