Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  • Cited by 36
  • Colleen Shantz, University of St Michael's College, Toronto and Toronto School of Theology
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
January 2010
Print publication year:
2009
Online ISBN:
9780511581625

Book description

While many readers of Paul's letters recognize how important his experience was to his life and thought, Biblical scholars have not generally addressed this topic head-on. Colleen Shantz argues that they have been held back both by a bias against religious ecstasy and by the limits of the Biblical texts: how do you responsibly access someone else's experience, particularly experience as unusual and debated as religious ecstasy? And how do you account responsibly for the role of experience in that person's thought? Paul in Ecstasy pursues these questions through a variety of disciplines - most notably neuroscience. This study provides cogent explanations for bewildering passages in Paul's letters, outlines a much greater influence of such experience in Paul's life and letters, and points to its importance in Christian origins.

Awards

Winner of the 2010 Frank W. Beare Award

Reviews

‘Paul in Ecstasy is highly original. It contains a compelling analysis of the prejudices against the themes of ecstasy, mysticism, enthusiasm, and charismatic experiences in mainstream scholarship and a very solid account of neurological research. The latter is by itself worth the price of the book.’

Robert Jewett - Guest Professor of New Testament, University of Heidelberg and Part-time Professor of Biblical and Historical Studies, University of Wales Lampeter

‘Shantz’s methodical and disciplined application of insights from cognitive neuroscience to the interpretation of Paul’s ecstatic experiences is insightful, balanced, and thorough. It takes a deserved place among similar contemporary studies of Paul and other biblical personalities such as Enoch, Ezekiel, and John. Her lucid and elegant style makes the application of complex scientific concepts to the interpretation of Paul easily accessible and pleasurable to read even for those entirely unfamiliar with or skeptical of this approach.’

John J. Pilch - Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
×

Contents

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.