What do you think would happen to Christianity if several authentic letters of Paul were found (much like the Dead Sea scrolls or the Nag Hamadi library)? Paul may have written hundreds of letters so what are the chances we have the only 7 (authentic)letters he wrote? Especially, what impact would it have if the letters deviated significantly from current Pauline Christian doctrine? How would fundamentalist Christianity be affected, in particular (re-organization, restructure, spark a new wave of Fundamentalist formation, spark revival centered around a more broad view of Pauline Christianity, collapse, etc)?
Welcome Jason.
What you would want is for Paul to discuss some of the lesser known aspects of his ministry. The details of his own conversion. More about his relationship with the original disciples.
I suppose the tendency is to think that the authentic letters that survive must be the most important ones but who can say?
An interesting paradox might develop. Currently fundamentalists argue strenuously for the authenticity of the forgeries. If a new discovery resulted in major revisions of what we think we know you might wind up with a situation where the fundamentalists direct all their energies trying to show that the new letters are not authentic.
Then you would have a theological question. If you could reasonably demonstrate that a new letter was authentically Pauline then would it be authoritative since it is not canonical? Would you wind up with a situation where some of Paul’s letters are scripture and some are not?
In Catholic theology, this is a classic hypothetical. And the answer given there is: not a whole lot. Canonicity (and inspiration) were distinguished from authorship. Catholic doctrine is that none of public revelation (including all inspired Scripture) has been lost; so the lost letters of Paul can’t be inspired scripture.
So even if a new letter of Paul were found, it would not have the authority of canonical scripture, and its status would be little more than an historical curiosity.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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