The Power of Images in Paul

by Raymond F. Collins

In his letters to the early Christian communities, the apostle Paul left for Christians of all time an array of powerful images: from the pain of a thorn in the flesh to the tenderness of a nursing mother for her children, from the competition on an athletic field to the growth of an agricultural field. In The Power of Images in Paul, Raymond Collins explores how Paul uses the ordinary to describe what is extraordinary, how Paul skillfully uses a wide range of metaphors as a means of both persuasion and clarification. But this book is more than an analysis of Paul’s images themselves. Collins also examines how Paul deliberately draws from secular as well as religious and biblical themes in order to draw a culturally diverse audience into relationship with Christ. Entering Paul’s world with Collins, readers will better appreciate Paul’s use of metaphor and, more important, be persuaded as was Paul’s original audience of God’s unfailing love in Christ.

296 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Raymond F. Collins (STD, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Providence and the author of numerous books and commentaries. His books include New Testament Christology, New Testament Theology: Exploring Unity and Diversity, and God's Saving Grace: A Pauline Theology. Prior to his retirement, Collins was professor of New Testament at Catholic University of America. He lives in Saunderstown, Rhode Island.

Reviews

[Sanjuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several books and articles on Paul's use of metaphor, and I found Collins' treatment of the subject to be among the best. The major downside of the book is the extremely limited discussion of the actual concept of metaphor; Collins treats this only briefly in the opening chapter, and only then commenting on the way metaphor was viewed by ancient writers. Collins' book was released about 30 years after the advent of the advanced metaphor theories that now dominate the field, and yet, Collins never mentions these theories and his treatment of the subject is superficial. Several Pauline scholars have argued for the value of cognitive theories of metaphor as the best explanation for Paul's use, and such theories are not even referred to here. This means that Collins never ventures into the important discussions regarding Paul's formative purpose in using metaphor to structure his communities or frame his ideas into coherent gestalts. Another slight, secondary issue is that Collins does, at times, undervalue Paul's use of certain metaphors in certain texts. For example, kinship metaphors are extremely important to Paul's arguments in Romans 8, but Collins states early on that kinship metaphors are not prominent in Romans, so he misses the points at which there are exceptions to this.

Having said all that, this is still a very helpful book. Collins limits his discussion to the seven undisputed letters, and goes through each letter as an individual discourse. Within each letter, he surveys them from beginning to end, noting the important places where metaphor frames or empowers Paul's arguments. Furthermore, Collins identifies target domains and uses this to tie ideas together where such ties might be missed. For example, Paul uses cultic metaphors in Rom 12:1-2, and again in Rom 15. These sections might not be discussed together unless the common metaphors were established, and then it becomes clear that Paul was tying together some of these arguments.

Although the chapters discussing each letter are focused on target domains, Collins ends the book with a synthesizing chapter where he establishes commonly used source domains to highlight the images to which Paul appealed most often.

Overall, despite a few weaknesses, this is a very well organized book, which discusses most of the key metaphors used by Paul. Indispensable for Paul's use of language and his rhetorical strategy.