Fr. Skiadaresis John, Paulian Studies A’, Pournaras Publications: Thessaloniki 2005, pages 221.
The book is a collection of six articles, which refer to theological issues of the Acts and the Epistles of ap. Paul.
The first study examines the presence of references to ap. Paul in the Church Hymnology. The study is divided in two parts, after the introduction to the topic. In the first part, the personality, life and work of Paul are examined, the way these are delivered in the hymnography. The second part, based on the above, concerns the presence of complimentary remarks on Paul, as well as the attitude that the Church and the faithful ought to have towards these reports.
The second study is a hermeneutic comment on Gauls 1,8.9, where, according to the author, the anathema of Paul is connected to and expresses the demand of the writers for their texts to be considered solid and inviolable for the reason that they expressed the reality of the New Testament. On the other hand, the response on behalf of the communities to this demand (John 21,24) can be appreciated as the first stage of the process of the incorporation of these texts in the Canon.
The third study is a hermeneutic remark on Acts 20, 7-12, one of the direct references to the celebration of the Eucharist, in the frame of which the resurrection of young Eutuchus takes place. After the introduction and the text, the author examines the scripted tradition, the context, the other problems of the passage, such as the time, place and setting of the synaxis. Next, he analyzes the episode with Eutuchus and its relation to the Eucharistic synaxis and, finally, the passage with regard to the death of members of the first Church.
The fourth study deals with the speech of ap. Paul to the elders of Ephesus (Acts 20, 17-38). After the introductory comments, the author presents the structure, thematology and correlation of the speech with the literary genre of the Testaments, next, he refers to the fatherhood of the speech and its most important points and concludes that the speech has special significance for the Church because it is the last expression of anxiety regarding the course of the Church at the basic turn of its history, that is the transition from the apostolic to the post-apostolic reality.
The next unit of the book analyzes the theme of vision and hearing in ap, Paul’s anthropology. After the introduction, where ap. Paul’s views on the body and its function, as well as the views of philosophers and writers of the antiquity on the two senses are presented, the testimonies of the apostle on vision and hearing in the frame of human relationships, in the relationship of man and creation and, finally, in the relationship of man and God are examined.
The last unit refers to the B’ Epistle to Timothy. The writer poses the question if this is about the swan-song and the Testament of ap. Paul, a question he tries to answer through the analysis of the other reports of the text.