Modern interpreters of Paul’s writings have typically assessed these texts in light of the exegetical and theological work of John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Philip Melanchthon. In the last few decades, a contrasting interpretive outlook—the “New Perspective” on Paul—has been articulated and developed by N. T. Wright and other scholars. This New Perspective, relying on a different set of assumptions regarding the Jewish context in which Paul lived and wrote, presents a different understanding of many of Paul’s core teachings. This Mobile Ed course offers a focused description of both the traditional perspective and the New Perspective, comparing them to one another and allowing students to assess Paul’s view of man, conscience, and sin. You will be led through an example text, providing you with interpretation skills that will allow you to explore the New Testament and determine the true relationship between faith and works in each text.
“And so Paul does not, on this view, oppose faith in Christ to works righteousness but instead to the identification of righteousness with Jewish identity.” (source)
“Dunn’s work meant that what Paul is objecting to is the insistence that it’s necessary to become Jewish in order to be righteous before God.” (source)
“James D. G. Dunn argued that the works of the law are actually not works done in an attempt to earn righteousness but instead are, in particular, those aspects of the Jewish law that serve to mark the boundaries between Jews and Gentiles. And those boundary markers—those key distinguishing features of Jewish life as opposed to Gentile life—are circumcision, the observance of the food laws, and the observance of the Sabbath.” (source)
“Each generation of readers has brought and will bring different questions to the Bible. The answers that are found then shape the preunderstanding and questions that the following generations of readers bring to the text. As a result, each generation of readers will understand the Bible differently.’” (source)
“We are going to have a triple focus. We’re going to be concerned with the first author and the first readers—with what Paul was trying to say to the original recipients of his letters—but secondly, our concern is going to be with interpretation throughout the history of the church.” (source)