Attaining the end

: reading Ephesians through the lens of functional teleology

Abstract

Modern scholarship has largely been frustrated in its search for coherence within Ephesians. A determination of the letter’s logical coherence must take into account three particular issues: 1) The integration of the letter’s cosmic, ecclesial, and ethical elements, (2) the explanatory potential of the proposed structure of coherence for the letter’s established doctrinal characteristics, including ecclesial unity, cosmic Christology, and eschatology, and (3) the necessity of maintaining historical plausibility while simultaneously not exceeding the letter’s sparse contextual evidence.

Using the observations of modern virtue ethicists that ancient ethical thought was predicated on conceptions of the human telos, or functional purpose, this thesis examines the logical coherence of Ephesians through the categories of functional teleology. It begins by investigating the extent to which teleological conceptions featured in ancient ethical logic. Part One provides an overview and definition of the logical structure of “functional teleology” in ancient ethical thought before turning to examine how this structure was utilized in Epicurean, Stoic, and early Jewish ethical texts. In Part Two, the thesis examines the Auslegungsgeschichte of Ephesians, focusing on Thomas Aquinas’ lectura ad Ephesios, to demonstrate how Ephesians has been previously interpreted using functional teleological categories. Aquinas’ ad Ephesios raises a number of important questions and observations for further study in Ephesians. Finally, the thesis turns to an historical-exegetical examination of Ephesians that analyzes the text using the lens of functional teleology, which identifies appropriate ethical behavior in light of an individual and ecclesial telos within God’s ultimus finis for all of creation.

Parts Three and Four conclude that Ephesians demonstrates a logical system of thought based on the description of the appropriate human telos to which all human behavior should be directed in light of the church’s function within Ephesians’ broader Weltbild. In this way, Ephesians coherently holds together concepts of cosmology, ecclesiology, and human ethics through the logic of functional teleology.

Date of Award	30 Nov 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Mark Warwick Elliott (Supervisor)