About the project
The full title of the project is "Social systems in transition. The meaning of collective identity and the interpretation and translation of the Greek term Sarx in Paul’s letters". The aim of the project is to investigate Paul’s views of collective (national and religious) identity in the settings where he uses the Greek term sarx, and to achieve a better understanding of Paul’s attempts to increase the level of differentiation in the social systems he encountered.
The aim of the project is to investigate Paul’s views of collective (national and religious) identity in the settings where he uses the Greek term sarx, an anthropological term currently with unclear semantic structure, and to consider the options for the translation of relevant passages. The purpose of the project is to achieve a better understanding of Paul’s attempts to increase the level of differentiation (i.e., the extent of individual variation) in the social systems he encountered. Evidence is taken from his letters, with the passages with an extensive use of the term sarx as primary material, and social systems theory will be adopted as an interpretive lens. The proposed action implies a novel approach to the interpretation of these passages, while simultaneously addressing the issues of social resilience and systems in transition. The results of the project may have wide ranging implications for the communities that turn to these texts for guidance in constructing collective identities.
Background
Today Europe is facing multiple and seemingly sudden changes on many fronts, among which are migration pressures, climate change, and security threats. Religious communities today act as both significant resources, as well as potential threats, to cooperation in diversity. While the mobility of peoples offers opportunities to meet challenges faced by the EU, responses to migration flows include new or resurgent forms of nationalism, racism, and misogyny, based on racial and misogynistic ideas of unity through sameness. In such situations, the motivations for adapting to greater diversity are dependent upon each community, nation, or region’s characterization or construct of collective identity. Can unity be sought in diversity? Or must an idea of sameness be the unifying core in constructs of collective identities? As part of a now-global cultural heritage, Paul’s letters continue to influence meaning-making and self-understanding around the world, and the MaSarx project speaks to this situation.
Summary of results
The aim of the research project MaSarx, “Social systems in transition: The meaning of collective identity and the interpretation of the Greek term Sarx in Paul’s letters,” was to investigate the first-century writer Paul’s views of collective (ethnic, cultural, and religious) identity in the settings where he uses the Greek term sarx (σάρξ). Importantly, the project also considered options for the translation of relevant the passages in his letters.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul makes an attempt to affirm and defend an increased level of differentiation (i.e., the extent of individual variation) in the social systems he encountered. The term σάρξ was previously conceived of as a complicated and highly polysemous term, but read within its literary and cultural context in Galatians a new picture emerges. Rather than σάρξ targeting any kind of assumed desire in the individual member of his Christ assemblies (the so-called “desire of the flesh”), Paul rather most likely addressed the desire for conformity within the collective group. The result of the project’s analyses was a more coherent reading of Galatians and a more monosemous interpretation of the term σάρξ, namely as a collectively oriented term. Evidence for the work was taken from this letter (through rhetorical and linguistic analyses), and social systems theory (especially the work of Bowen), was adopted as an interpretive lens. As social systems with a high level of differentiation are more resilient than systems with lower levels of differentiation, the course of action suggested by Paul was intended to strengthen the resilience of the assembly. In situations of hardships and stress, however, the desire for conformity typically arises as a natural, but ultimately ineffective, strategy to handle reactive emotions. The study identified a novel approach to the interpretation of Galatians, while simultaneously addressing important issues of social resilience and of systems in transition.
The result of the project was published in Paul and Diversity: A New Perspective on Σάρξ and Resilience (Routledge, Taylor and Francis group, 2023).
Duration
17 August 2020 - 30 December 2022.
