October 8, 2025Open Access

Travels, Politics and Paul in the New Testament

Key Points

Travel in the New Testament significantly impacted identity within the Roman Empire, influencing social relationships and political narratives.
The Apostle Paul's journeys illustrate how physical movement intersected with issues of borders and displacement in ancient texts.
This research employs a historical analysis of ancient Jewish contexts and travels to reveal modern parallels with current migration discourse.
The study highlights how New Testament travel discourses continue to inform contemporary discussions on displacement and identity politics.

Abstract

This contribution on biblical travels focuses on the NT and Paul in particular, both regarding the significance of travel as a physical movement of people but also in terms of the related politics. Related to ancient and Jewish contexts, the NT’s travel discourses unfold in relation to issues of identity, to socialisation and as displacement discourse within the Roman imperial context. In this regard, travels were co-constituted by maps and borders, then as much as today. NT travels and travel discourse had significant political implications for the past and continue to be invoked in modern, analogical discourses like migration. Keywords: Apostle Paul, Displacement, Travel, Identity, Socialisation, Empire, Borders

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