Tuesday 3 January 2012

St Paul, patron Saint of the Occupy Movement?

If you live in or around London there is a workshop on Thursday at 1 pm at the Bank of Ideas you might be interested in. "Would St Paul the Tentmaker have camped with Occupy?" with Juliet Kilpin. 


Since the movement in Britain has focussed around St Paul's Cathedral, and St Paul was an itinerant awning-maker who challenged the ideology of empire in his day, it's a question worth exploring. 


Understandably folk are often put off by St Paul's letters, often verbose and sexist, but an increasing number of scholars are separating those early letters from the real Paul with later letters that bear his name. What they're finding is that the original Paul was far more radical than we have given him credit for. 


If you haven't read it, I'd recommend 'The First Paul' by Crossan and Borg as an accessible and thorough introduction to the radical Jewish mystic who could easily be the patron saint of Occupations.