This essay has examined Paul's Epistle to the Philippians to examine how his letter, in the context of his time, may contribute to the discussion of the modern day, regarding assisted suicide in palliative care. This has mainly been done through a hermeneutical study of Philippians, specifically 1:21-1:27, 2:5-11 and 3:17-21. Additionally this study has utilised historical-critical methods to contextualise Paul's rhetoric and focusing on the idea of de-intoducring of the biblical text from the subsequent theological tradition and anachronisms. This essay has primarily been informed by Arthur J. Droge's article about the subject of suicide in Philippians (Mori Lucrum: Paul and the Ancient Theories of Suicide 1988), Linda Joelsson's book about Paul and the idea of death in the hermeneutical of psychology (Paul and Death - A Question of Psychological Coping 2017) and Karin B. Neutel & Peter-Ben Smits article about the likely conditions of his arrest while writing Philippians and the trauma of prison factors into the text (Paul, Imprisonment and Crisis 2021). The second chapter briefly examined the development of the theology of suicide since the time of St. Augustine and subsecuenty different modern day attitudes toward assisted suicide. The third chapter examined the occurrence and frequency of suicides in the Hebrew Bible and found a lack of moral condemnation of those who took their own lives. Thereafter the essay investigates the attitudes towards death and suicide in the jewish tradition, the Roman empire and finally the early christians. The fourth chapter examined the background of Philippians and the conditions of the imprisonmentand thereafter performed a exegetical investigation into the issue suicide in relation to the ideas of death and suicide of his time. The study showed that Paul expresses what can likely be interpretedas suicidal language in Philippians, but that Paul clearly rejects the idea in favor of performing hisapostolic duty. The essay concludes with a broader discussion on the idea of the challenges of interpretation, a comparison of Paul and the augustinian tradition in relation to suicde and the change in perception of the idea of the holiness of life in favour of personal autonomy. The answer to the main question of the study is that Paul's perspective in Philippians, may be valuable as a troubled and sympathetic christian role-model, a person who, when faced with the prospect of suicide, chooses life. Not because suicde is extraordinarily sinful, but does so for the sake of his chrisitan calling of living for his community. This seems to be a more contemporary and fruitful rhetoric, than the condemning tone of classic augustinian theology in the matter of assisted suicide.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-192565 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Mackenrott, William |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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