Trevor Burke considers Paul's colleagues and their different
relationships with Paul, whether as equals, subordinates, and whether
well-known or obscure, tracing how Paul refers to those with whom he
associated in his letters. Burke examines these different figures in
Paul's life in depth, including the remarkably large number of women
mentioned, and shows how they played key roles through a range of
activities in helping establish and maintain Paul's communities,
including, preaching, teaching, visiting, baptizing, and the
co-authoring of his letters.
Burke employs a sociolinguistic approach to understand Paul's social
relations, arguing that the language Paul uses in his letters is the
means whereby he constructs his social network. That is, Paul does not
need to use a title (e.g., 'apostle') to indicate his role and function
or that of his colleagues; rather, he 'grammaticalizes' social relations
in his letters through his deliberate choice of lexeme (e.g., proper
noun) and syntax (e.g., secondary clause) which signifies the value and
contribution-and at times disapproval-of those with whom he joined
forces.