Die Gemeinde als kosmische Größe

For Paul the Christ event - that is the death and resurrection of Christ - was not merely an isolated occurrence. Rather, for him and the Pauline congregation it laid the foundations for a completely new worldview and self-conception. Paul had to find answers to questions concerning the origin, the nature and destination of the cosmos, in other words: Paul had to devise cosmological statements. This study is focussed on the self-conception of the Pauline congregation, which is defined in distinction from the world. By closely examining the distinct cosmological topics (cosmos, creation, cosmic powers, Holy Spirit) this study unfolds how Paul appropriates cosmological conceptions from his Jewish-Apocalyptic and Greco-Roman surrounding context and uses them creatively.