328 Joel White alluding to a widespread apocalyptic tradition concerning the role of the elect in the eschaton (69). This tradition has its roots in a straightforward reading of Dan 7,22 that “[the Ancient of days] gave judgment to the saints of the Most High” (th;n krivsin e[dwke toi'" aJgivoi" tou' uJyivstou) (70). The breadth of attestation for this tradition in early Jewish literature and the off-handed manner in which Paul refers to it constitute strong evidence that this Danielic concept, and thus the narrative of Dan 7, help shaped Paul’s Heilsgeschichte. 3. Paul’s Notion that the Present Age has Almost Run its Course Several texts make it clear that Paul shared the belief of his Jewish contemporaries that the heilsgeschichtliche period they were living in was the penultimate one (i.e. Daniel’s fourth kingdom) and that it would soon be followed by the consummation of God’s eternal reign. We cannot examine each of these in depth, and since I have offered similar analysis elsewhere (71) I will only briefly review the evidence here. a) 1 Cor 7,29-31 In the pericope preceding 1 Cor 7,29-31 Paul argues that there is no cause for undue concern about one’s station in life, whether one is married or unmarried, circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free. In (69) Cf. e.g. G.D. FEE, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT; Grand Rapids, MI 1987) 233; W. SCHRAGE, Der erste Brief an die Korinther (1Kor 1,1- 6,11) (EKK VII/1; Neukirchen-Vluyn 1991) 410; E.J. SCHNABEL, Der erste Brief an die Korinther (HTA; Wuppertal 2007) 307. (70) Cf. C.H. DODD, According to the Scriptures. The Substructure of New Testament Theology (London 1952) 68; B.S. ROSNER, Paul Scripture, and Ethics. A Study of 1 Corinthians 5-7 (Grand Rapids, MI 1994) 111. The provenance of the tradition concerning the judgment of angels in v. 3 (ajggevlou" krinou'men) is less clear. (71) WHITE, Erstlingsgabe, 143-156. There I argued that Paul’s attitude with regard to the timing of the Parousia may be best described not as an “akute Naherwartung” — so U. SCHNELLE, Paulus: Leben und Denken (Berlin 2003) 673 — but as a “kontingente Naherwartung”. By that I meant (and I do not intend to argue otherwise here) that Paul did not believe that the Parousia must necessarily occur “soon” (i.e. during his lifetime), although he certainly did not rule out that possibility. Instead, he expected the Parousia to take place immediately after those events that signaled the end of the present age. He clearly thought that these events were “near” (i.e., they would occur next in God’s fore-ordained Heilsgeschichte) and therefore that he was living in temporal proximity to the end of the present age.