Tło religijne i historyczne angelologii i demonologii w listach św. Pawła

Abstract

The concept of the victory of Christ over evil powers has been regarded as central to Pauline thought. Certainly there remained the problem of the continued activity of these powers, which Christ was supposed to have conquered once and for all on the cross. A major difficulty in the study of the language of the powers in the writing of Paul is that there is no immediately obvious source from which it derives or background into which it fits. The aim of this study is to carry out such a examination those passages in the writing of Paul and evaluate the significance of the powers in Paul’s mind. In the first place, the environment in which Paul worked and wrote is of fundamental importance. In recent study emphasis has been given to the Jewish background of Paul’s thought. Important as this is, it is worth recalling that he lived and worked in the main in Asia Minor, when even the Jews had to a large extent forgotten their past. There is also the matter of chronology. It is rarely noticed how isolated and peculiar a period of history was that in which Paul lived. For the study of the language of the powers in Paul’s writing, therefore, an awareness of the complex religious and social background of the time is vital.