• About

The Cruciform Pen

~ toward a cross-shaped life

The Cruciform Pen

Tag Archives: New Perspective on Paul

Recent Books on Paul

02 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, People to Know, Resources, Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Biographies, Douglas A. Campbell, Gordon Fee, John M. G. Barclay, N. T. Wright, New Perspective on Paul, Paul's Epistles, Pauline Theology

There is a bundle of new books out recently (or coming out soon) on the apostle Paul, and by some pretty big hitters too.

Paul_Wright

In case anyone was wondering if N.T. Wright had anything else left to say about Paul after he published his magnum opus several years ago (1,500 pages of text!), he does. And this time it is a biography. I am looking forward to reading this one; I already put in a pre-order.

Paul_Fee

Gordon Fee may be getting old but you couldn’t tell from his writing (incidentally, I imagine folks said the same thing about Paul too). At a brief +/-200 pages this book will make a great read for folks who aren’t looking to exhaust the subject. If you have read Fee’s Pauline Christology I suspect there will be some overlap (or condensing?) but with a gifted writer as Fee is, you will never be bored. Buy this book. It may be his last.

Paul_Campbell

Douglas Cambell is another big hitter in Pauline studies, particularly of the ‘apocalyptic Paul’. I am guessing this book is an attempt to aim some of his scholarly thought (e.g., The Deliverance of God) at more popular audience. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how Campbell teases out his ideas about how Paul’s thought develops and changes from his conversion to his death.

Paul_Barclay

John Barclay has also recently published a major work on Paul (Paul & The Gift), so why another book? Well, this one is part of the ‘Very Brief Histories’ series, so I imagine its genesis has more to do with the publishers wanting Barclay’s authorship than any new developments in Barclay’s thought on Paul. But, at just over 100 pages it would make a nice winter read with a cup of hot chocolate.

Paul_SusanEastman

Finally (for this list anyway), there is the more narrowly focused book by Susan Eastman of Duke Divinity, Paul and the Person: Reframing Paul’s Anthropology. With a foreword (and endorsement) by John Barclay it promises to be rewarding. Although it will probably be most appealing to academics and scholars, it will also probably be relevant for Christians interested in psychology and counseling (due to the focus on personhood).

 

Paul and Second Temple Judaism

09 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by thecruciformpen in Historical Studies, Research Topics / Book Ideas

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Apocalyptic Interpretation, Christian Origins, Judaism, New Perspective on Paul, Pauline Theology, Second Temple Judaism

Second Temple Jewish Star

James H. Charlesworth has crafted 12 questions to guide his review of N.T. Wright’s Paul and the Faithfulness of God. The stated goal of the questions is to allow him “to classify the best approach to the very complex world of Second Temple Judaism in ancient Palestine and in the Diaspora, Paul’s relation to it, and Wright’s presentation of each.”¹

So here is my idea for how someone could use Charlesworth’s questions to write a book (publishers take note). The questions (or some modification of them) would serve as a great tool for comparing various contemporary presentations of Paul. Charlesworth himself should contribute the Foreword or Introduction so as to give him the proper credit for the questions. I propose that the following works on Paul could profitably be analyzed on the basis of Charlesworth’s questions:

  • F.F. Bruce. Paul Apostle of the Heart Set Free. Paternoster Press, 1977.
  • James D. G. Dunn. The Theology of the Apostle Paul. Eerdmans, 1998.
  • Thomas R. Schreiner. Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology. InterVarsity Press, 2001.
  • Michael J. Gorman. Apostle of the Crucified Lord: A Theological Introduction to Paul and His Letters. Eerdmans, 2004.
  • Anthony C. Thiselton. The Living Paul: An Introduction to the Apostle’s Life and Thought. InterVarsity Press, 2009.
  • N.T. Wright. Paul and the Faithfulness of God. Fortress Press, 2013.
  • John M.G. Barclay. Paul and the Gift. Eerdmans, 2015.
  • E.P. Sanders. Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought. Fortress Press, 2015.

So what are Charlesworth’s questions? (below I have replaced “Wright” with “our author” to make them applicable to other works)

  1. I am certain that [our author] would assiduously avoid any semblance of Anti-Judaism (Anti-Semitism), but would he agree with the stellar group of Pauline specialists who convened in Rome in 2014 to demonstrate how Paul now must be understood within Second Temple Judaism?
  2. Paul states that he is proud to be a Jew and a Pharisee, so does [our author] err and cast Paul as a “Christian,” sociological and theological category which is anachronistic to many experts for the period before 70 CE?
  3. Does [our author] avoid such misleading dichotomies as “Hellenistic Judaism” versus “Palestinian Judaism” and “Orthodox Judaism” versus “Sectarian Judaism”?
  4. In examining pre-70 CE sociological and theological contexts, does [our author] choose to use terms that are now relegated to the dust bin, according to most scholars, such as “canonical,” “canon,” “extra-canonical,” as well as “church,” “orthodoxy,” and “heresy”?
  5. Does [our author] appreciate how significantly the concepts and terms in the Dead Sea Scrolls have revolutionized scholars’ approach to Second Temple Judaism, Christian Origins, and Paul? And specifically, how dies he use the evidence of “works of law” now found in Second Temple  Judaism to clarify the same term in Galatians?
  6. If [our author] sees a unity within Second Temple Judaism, what is it and how does he obtain that insight; and if he sees only diversity, how does he explain the colossal change in 66 CE?
  7. Does [our author] appreciate the many groups and sects within Second Temple Judaism and does he do justice to the Samaritans?
  8. How does [our author] treat the “sacred writings” in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (that is, does he find God’s Word in any of them, as did the early Jews and “Christians”?); and does he engage the authors who have claimed Paul quoted from or at least knew one or more these documents?
  9. Does [our author] perceive that Paul’s main inheritance from Judaism is apocalyptic eschatology?
  10. Would [our author] agree with those that conclude Paul broke from Jesus by rejecting the purity laws, dietary restrictions, circumcision, and taking the “good news” to Gentiles?
  11. Has [our author] found “the heart of Paul’s theology” or has he allowed Paul to be as contradictory as he seems to be in his authentic letters?
  12. Where do we find Paul’s genius and creativity and how do we know that when so many ideas we all once concluded had originated with Paul are now being discovered in early Jewish texts?

Some of the questions may need to be reformulated. Charlesworth’s own presuppositions are apparent in more than one. Nevertheless, they do serve as launch point for further discussion of how different authors handle the issues concerned. I think it would be quite revealing to consider how each of the above mentioned works on Paul deals with each of these topics. It will go a long way toward demonstrating the relative strengths and weaknesses of each work. Further, it would potentially uncover additional areas where more work is needed.

So…will someone please take this idea and run with it?


¹ See “Wright’s Paradigm of Early Jewish Thought: Avoidance of Anachronisms?” in God and the Faithfulness of Paul (Mohr Siebeck 2016) edited by Christoph Heilig, J. Thomas Hewitt, and Michael F. Bird, 207-234, 207.

Dunn Thinks Wright’s PFG is Too Little Aligned with the New Perspective on Paul

28 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by thecruciformpen in People to Know, Resources, Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

James D.G. Dunn, N. T. Wright, New Perspective on Paul

I am reading through God and the Faithfulness of Paul: A Critical Examination of the Pauline Theology of N.T. Wright (Mohr Siebeck 2016) and came across this surprising, and somewhat telling, quote from James D.G. Dunn (himself one of the major proponents of the “New Perspective on Paul”) regarding Wright’s big book Paul and the Faithfulness of God:

So what to make of Wright’s (final?) assessment of and contribution to “the new perspective on Paul?” The chief sense is one of disappointment that the new perspective proved to be not very important for him in his climactic treatment of Paul.

[quote from pg. 357]

It seems that, for Dunn at least, N.T. Wright is not “new perspective” enough!

Hmm…

Categories

  • Biblical Studies (18)
  • Historical Studies (12)
  • People to Know (25)
  • Poetry (2)
  • Prayers (7)
  • Research Topics / Book Ideas (3)
  • Resources (50)
  • Reviews (24)

Posts

  • October 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • August 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (3)
  • December 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (1)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (6)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (1)
  • May 2016 (4)
  • April 2016 (3)
  • March 2016 (10)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (4)
  • December 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (1)
  • September 2015 (6)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (6)
  • December 2014 (12)
  • November 2014 (8)
  • October 2014 (1)

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 117 other followers

Currently Reading

Blogs I Follow

  • Malcolm Guite
  • The Cruciform Pen
  • Crux Sola
  • βιβλιοσκώληξ
  • Holy Writ & Sacred Witness
  • Griffin Paul Jackson
  • Koine-Greek
  • Biblical Studies
  • Bible Design Blog
  • Theological Studies
  • καὶ τὰ λοιπά
  • Euangelion
  • Evangelical Textual Criticism
  • NT Blog

Blog at WordPress.com.

Malcolm Guite

Blog for poet and singer-songwriter Malcolm Guite

The Cruciform Pen

toward a cross-shaped life

Crux Sola

A Biblioblog with Nijay K Gupta

βιβλιοσκώληξ

βιβλιο: "book"; σκώληξ: "worm"

Holy Writ & Sacred Witness

...eyes on the Word; ears to the ground...

Griffin Paul Jackson

Word architect.

Koine-Greek

Studies in Greek Language & Linguistics...

Biblical Studies

Making Biblical Scholarship Accessible

Bible Design Blog

Theological Studies

An Internet Resource for Studying Christian Theology

καὶ τὰ λοιπά

A blog by Daniel R. Streett all about Early Judaism, Biblical Studies, Koine Greek, καὶ τὰ λοιπά

Euangelion

toward a cross-shaped life

Evangelical Textual Criticism

toward a cross-shaped life

NT Blog

toward a cross-shaped life

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×