The “Acts” of Paul: micro-processes and new institution creation

Abstract

How do new institutions get created? And what role do micro-processes play in this creative process? To date, there have been minimal efforts to fully describe and model the process by which the discrete and various micro-level activities of institutional actors contribute to the creation of new institutions. Drawing from recent scholarship in institutional work, in this paper, I employ a grounded theory approach to the life and works of Paul of Tarsus as recorded in biblical texts to develop a process model of the creation of a new institution which emphasizes micro-level processes, particularly sensemaking. The model centers on two simultaneous and iterative processes by which Paul crafts a message for his various audiences and reinforces these teachings with behavioral, relational, and doctrinal structures. The emergence of an institution is conceived as the long-term accretion of many discrete institutional acts.