What is Galatians about? Augustine says that the question at stake was how to induct Gentiles into the people of God. Paul circumcised Timothy, since “these rites and traditions [of Judaism] were not harmful to people born and raised in that way,” but for those who came from . . . . Continue Reading »
Sarah Ruden’s Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time examines Paul’s ethical pronouncements in the context of Greco-Roman morals and literature, with some interesting results. Paul comes off as revolutionary and subversive on precisely . . . . Continue Reading »
R. Michael Allen’s The Christ’s Faith: A Dogmatic Account (T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology) fill out the notion of the faith and trust exercised by Jesus Christ in relation to His Father. He doesn’t deal with the exegetical issues, but instead sets out to show . . . . Continue Reading »
Wow. That’s my initial reaction to a quick perusal of the opening chapters of Douglas Campbell’s The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul , just out from Eerdmans. Campbell attacks what he calls the “foundationalism” and . . . . Continue Reading »
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 . . . . Continue Reading »
Christians typically object to deterministic social theories. Humans are not, we insist, slaves to birth, culture, nurture, social status, political affiliation. We are free. That may be the wrong answer. The right answer may be: Yes, outside of Christ, human beings are slaves to all those things . . . . Continue Reading »
Several times in his stimulating Contours of Pauline Theology , Tom Holland claims that Paul’s references to displayed blood must refer to sacrifice becuase “there is only one sacrifice in the entire Old Testament that was given public display. It was the Paschal victim whose blood was . . . . Continue Reading »
Paul’s teaching concerning the relation of the Spirit to law is often understood this way: The law sets out God’s demands for His people; we can’t keep those demands; the Spirit enables us to conform to the law. That’s one way of putting it. It is the way that Jeremiah and . . . . Continue Reading »
Contrary to some trends of modern NT scholarship, Paul and John inhabit the very same world of thought, ask the same questions, address the same problems. One hint of this: John 8 focuses attention, at turgid length, on the question of Jewish origin and identity. The Jews claim to be of God their . . . . Continue Reading »
Yoder ( Body Politics ) suggests that “flesh” in the New Testament can refer to “ethnicity.” Citing 2 Corinthians 5, he writes that “Paul is defending the missionary policies, for which he was being criticized, according to wich on principle he makes Jews and Gentiles . . . . Continue Reading »
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