The New Perspective (on Paul) on Peter: Cornelius’s Conversion, the Antioch Incident, and Peter’s Stance towards Gentiles in the Light of the Philosophy of Historiography

Abstract

The development of an inner-Jewish community who believed in Jesus of Nazareth as theMessiah into the globalmovement of “Christianity” poses difficult historical questions at many points. Among them, the original acceptance of the first Gentiles asGentiles into this group is one of themost pressing issues. Within the Protestant tradition, this historical question has, for the most part, been deeply interwoven with the theological debate about justification—and, thus, with the person of Paul. This relatedness of historical and theological matters suggests that a shift in the perspective on Paul’s thought might also entail a reconsideration of his role in the historical process that led to Christian congregations with Gentile members, especially vis-à-vis other prominent figures within the early Christian movement. Accordingly, this essay will discuss the question of how recent trends in Pauline studies—the emergence of the so-called “New Perspective on Paul” (in the following: NPP)—have influenced the perception of the two foundational figures of Paul and Peter in relation to the historical question of how it came to be that Gentiles became an important part of the early Christian movement.