Unreading the Apostle Paul through the lenses of Postcolonial Theories and the Black Radical Tradition

• In Event: 30462 - Theory Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 1. Anticolonial, Postcolonial, and Decolonial Perspectives

Abstract

During the late 50s, the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a relatively small assembly of Gentile who were part of a new movement later known as Christianity. Rome can be characterized as urban on first-century standards with high population density, and a hub for migrants for foreign regions, thus a melting pot for immigrants if they chose to assimilate. However, the recipients of this letter lacked the ability to assimilate, because such religious associations were regarded as a capital offense and against the Roman Imperial cult. Furthermore, as migrants a significant proportion of the population lived apart from family which meant lacking “familial capital” and kinship bonds. It is from the pericope Romans 7:21-26 NRSV, that the Apostle refers to himself as “wretched” in the letter despite coming from a vantage point of partial privilege. Second, he refers to himself as a “slave” at least metaphorically. The connotations of the expressions “wretched” and “slave” have evolved significantly since the first century. Drawing from the Black Radical Tradition such as the works of C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins and Frantz Fanon the Wretched of the Earth, the paper incorporates what James Henry Harris calls “unreading the text” considering more recent developments. Although the Apostle Paul was one of the great pre-Enlightenment Era thinkers prior to the advent of the systematization of social and behavioral sciences, he was qualitatively equivalent to such scholars relative to his era as one had a keen understanding of social, economic, and political matters within the Roman Empire.

Author

• Michael D. Royster, Prairie View A&M University