Religious Studies

As institutions of the state, publicly funded schools are obliged to remain neutral. At the same time, their educational mandate is not limited to the teaching of specialised knowledge. Schools are also places where values are formed. The contributors to this volume undertake an interdisciplinary reflection on this dimension of schools.

Inter-congregational connections profoundly shaped the Pauline mission. Christoph W. Stenschke provides the first comprehensive analysis of these connections in the seven generally acknowledged authentic Pauline letters. He examines their various forms as well as their rhetorical function and historical plausibility within the epistolary context.

Discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, the Coptic Gospel of Thomas ranks among the most significant apocryphal writings of early Christianity. Long regarded as a loose collection of sayings, Stephanie Janz adopts a new approach: tracing catchwords and recurring motifs to interpret the logia within the context of the whole text.

Melissa J. Barciela examines the place of the suffering body in Paul's letter to the Philippians. She brings together three key angles of inquiry - Paul among ancient philosophers, embodiment in antiquity, and the theme of suffering - to offer a new reading of the embodied language in the letter.