Paul and the Law

Paul and the Law May 9, 2009

Jacob Taubes ( The Political Theology of Paul (Cultural Memory in the Present) ) notes that Paul’s teaching on law is directed not only to Pharisaical and Jewish opponents, but part of a dialog with his whole Mediterranean environment: “the concept of law . . . is a compromise formula for the Imperium Romanum. All of these different religious groups, especially the most difficult one, the Jews, who of course did not participate in the cult of the emperor but were nevertheless religio licita . . . represented a threat to Roman rule. But there was an aura, a general Hellenistic aura, an apotheosis of nomos. One could sing it to a Gentile tune, this apotheosis – I mean to a Greek-Hellenistic tune – one could sing it in Roman, and one could sing it in a Jewish way.”


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