GLOBALISATION AND SALVATION OF THE “CITY”  IN PAUL’S THINKING

Costel Ghica[1]

p. 365 - 374

Abstract

The stake of our research is related to the understanding of Paul of Tarsus’s personality in the first century context, century that was deeply marked by the ancient globalisation phenomena. Alongside with Plato and Aristotle, Paul of Tarsus, known as Apostle Paul, has decisively influenced the European culture. As long the modernity keeps the thinking of these giants of the universal spirit, we believe that the current problems can be better understood through the experience of those historical times that were extremely complex. In this study, our attention is focussing on the theme of the city. In the multi-cultural world of the first century, that was facing the “globalisation” phenomenon, after the spread of the Roman Empire ideology, there were many fears related to losing the identity of the “mother city” that had direct references to the “inner city”, fears with roots in the Greek cultural model. How were they addressed and solved by Paul of Tarsus of Cilicia in the first century is the question to which we seek an answer in this article.

Keywords: St. Paul, cultural context, Hellenism, Judaism, inner city, mother city, universal city

[1] Costel Ghica is a Ph.D. candidate at „Al. I. Cuza” University, Iaşi, Romania; contact: c_ghica.at.yahoo.com

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