Paul's Corporate Christophany

Paul's Christophany (i.e., his Damascus Road Experience) has been the subject of much scholarly analysis. However, treatments of this phenomenon, while widely varied, have tended to extract the various references from their literary contexts in order to reconstruct the event, to discover the foundations and content of Paul's Christology, or to analyze Paul's experience of conversion and/or call. The current study, focused on the undisputed Pauline epistles, evaluates how and why Paul employed the various Christophanic references in their particular literary and sociohistorical contexts. Through this assessment, the importance of Paul's Christophanic references as part of his larger arguments is established. It is shown how Paul uniquely shapes the various Christophanic references to fit the needs of his argument and through it, the needs of each community. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that Paul's Christophanic references do not primarily establish his apostolic status or assert his apostolic authority. Through this study, the corporate nature of Paul's Christophanic references becomes increasingly evident, and multiple general conclusions are drawn, which provide a possible glimpse into Paul's understanding of his Christophanic experience.

""Rob Fringer's careful, detailed study of the Christophany texts in Paul reveals a largely unexplored function of these texts: to shape the eschatological identity of the various Pauline communities. This is an important book about the corporate, community-forming power of these passages and of the church's consequent moral and missional life in sync with the apostle's own experience of Christ.""
--Michael J. Gorman, St. Mary's Seminary & University, Baltimore

""Many people have studied Paul's Damascus road experience in order to better understand the apostle's so-called 'conversion.' But Fringer opens new vistas in the study of Paul's Christophany by examining why and how he talks about this in the context of a letter's particular rhetorical argument. Among Fringer's many interesting discoveries is the fact that Paul often refers to his Christophany to encourage and instruct his readers in faith, spiritual growth, and unity. Fringer models careful exegesis and penetrating synthesis.""
--Nijay Gupta, George Fox University

""This fine book sheds important light on how Paul draws on his encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road to shape the identity and mission of God's people in their various life settings. Carefully researched and clearly written, Rob Fringer's book is an outstanding example of scholarship in service of the church.""
--Dean Flemming, MidAmerica Nazarene University


Rob A. Fringer is Principal and Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Biblical Languages at Nazarene Theological College in Brisbane, Australia, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. He is author of Engaging the Story of God (2018), has coauthored Theology of Luck (2015) and The Samaritan Project (2012), an...