Description:
In the 'New Perspective on Paul' the last judgment does not play any decisive role. According to other Pauline scholars, Paul, in his many fragmentary references to a last judgment, did not presuppose a consistent conception of judgment, but instead used different and sometimes contradicting motives in different contexts. Christian Stettler counters these views from a cognitive semantic perspective. Since in frame semantics language is seen as an 'access point' to encyclopaedic cognitive concepts, the author argues that judgement texts are references to a more detailed concept of the last judgement that Paul presupposed in his letters and taught in his churches. Stettler offers a full reconstruction of this concept by a semantic analysis of all relevant passages and through more extensive interpretation of central texts. The result is a reading of Paul that offers a way forward both to New Perspective and traditional confessional readings