Reading Old Mail: Interpreting Paul's Letters

Each time I introduce the Pauline letters in one of my classes, I share with students a picture of a letter my sister mailed me about a decade ago. She had just gone on a trip to New York and got me a Friends keychain. The letter is casual and brief, written in a hybrid print-cursive text that is hard to read at points, with no salutation and a signature that got partially cut off when I scanned the image. The text of the letter is as follows:

“Got this for you because I just love you so much! Hope you can use it! I love you so much! One day we’re gonna have to go explore the ‘concrete jungle where dreams are made of’ together. (you get to guess the song :) ). Its an amazing place. Plus we can stake famous people (AKA Tim Gunn!)

Liz”

Before we begin reading Paul’s letters or formally introducing him as a person in the early Jesus movement, I project the image of the letter to the class and ask a student to read it aloud. The volunteer usually struggles to read a word here or there and needs help from a classmate. Sometimes I help, but usually I simply observe. After the letter is read aloud, I ask the class what this is, and once we establish that it is a letter, I ask them to identify what we need to know to understand the letter. Students often mention author, audience, and occasion, but then they go on to mention some of the specifics of the letter: What object is the author sending? What song is referenced? What is the “concrete jungle”? Did the author and the recipient travel together, are they going to, or is the letter simply expressing desire? To what place might they be traveling? Who is Tim Gunn? Why would these people want to stalk him?

After we establish what needs to be known, we talk about what we actually know. Before any specific details get identified, I ask students to synopsize what the writing is and what it means even if we cannot answer questions about author, audience, or the specific details mentioned in it. Interestingly, students most often identify it as a love letter, although not necessarily as romantic. Then, we move on to trying to identify any information that can further enhance our understanding. While it is true that American students tend to have greater knowledge of the specific cultural references, this is not always the case. Usually, at least one person knows the song lyric and figures out that the city is New York, but, again, not always. Whether I am teaching older students or traditional undergrads, most have never heard of Tim Gunn. Students usually guess that the gift is a plane ticket, but that is never unanimous. No one has ever guessed keychain.

When students don’t know the song reference or haven’t heard of Tim Gunn, I eventually tell someone to look it up on Google. We use that public information to piece together some possibilities about the letter’s context, namely that the city is New York and that Tim Gunn has a connection to New York, especially through the show Project Runway. I do not give them information about the letter that can’t be inferred from public record, even though I have intimate knowledge of the letter (which sometimes students never realize).

Next, I ask students to identify when the letter was written. They use the song’s release date and sometimes the air dates for Project Runway to determine a terminus post quem and a possible terminus ante quem. Again, they often need Google for this.

As we wrap up assessing what we know and don’t know, I explain to students that reading New Testament letters is like reading someone else’s mail. Those letters represent semi-private correspondence between two parties, correspondence which arose out of a particular context. As it turns out, we have evidence that can help us understand some of that context, but there are limits to our knowledge, especially because these letters were written long ago. We can’t always fully identify references to private interactions (for instance, what happened to Paul when he met the Galatians?) or even to more public information. We don’t always know precisely when something was written or who the author is. There are things we can still understand without knowing each of these things, but sometimes we are left making a best guess.

This lesson is never the first time we discuss the value of historical context or literary genre in interpreting ancient texts, but it reinforces important factors about the occasional nature of Paul’s letters. Just as importantly, it activates students’ curiosity about context for those letters, particular references made in them, how to read an author’s tone and style, and the fact that these canonical texts were originally someone’s mail.

Although specific to biblical studies, this lesson is easily transferrable to the study of other religious texts (sacred or otherwise), especially letters. It engages students in the task of textual interpretation by drawing upon cultural information from recent history. This heightens student participation. In fact, students who know nothing about New Testament letters can still easily participate in this activity.

In my lightning-round presentation, I would project the letter, proceed through an abbreviated version of this activity by asking attendees to identify what information we need to know to fully understand the letter, and then briefly summarize the remainder of the in-class activity.