Paul within Judaism: Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle

by Mark D. Nanos; Magnus Zetterholm

Publisher:

Fortress Press

, 2015

Overview

Join a group of renowned international New Testament and Second Temple Judaism scholars as they explore Paul as a Jewish theologian. Jettisoning the assumption that Paul left behind the majority of his Jewish heritage—a belief still prevelant after 30 years of the “New Perspective,”—following the appearance of Jesus Christ to him on the Damascus Road, these scholars attempt to refine the New Perspective even further. A helpful introductory chapter surveys recent study of Paul and highlights the core questions about Paul’s post-conversion relationship to Judaism and its implications for Christian understanding of Paul’s thought. Other chapters explore the implications of reading Paul as aimed at Christ-following non-Jews, teaching them how to live in ways consistent with Judaism while remaining gentiles.

The contributors take different methodological approaches: historical, ideological-critical, gender-critical, and empire-critical, and examine issues of terminology and of interfaith relations. Surprising common ground among the contributors presents a coherent alternative to the “New Perspective.” The volume concludes with a critical evaluation of the Paul within Judaism perspective by Terence L. Donaldson, a well-known voice representative of the best insights of the New Perspective.

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Key Features

• Deploys multiple hermeneutical and ideological perspectives to examine Paul’s thought
• Expands theories about Paul’s relationship to first-century Judaism
• Reviews the recent interpretations of Paul

Contents

• Paul within Judaism: The State of the Questions
• The Question of Terminology: The Architecture of Contemporary Discussion on Paul
• The Question of Assumptions: Torah Observance in the First Century
• The Question of Conceptualization: Qualifying Paul’s Position on Circumcision in Dialogue with Joseph’s Advisors to King Izates
• The Question of Identity: Gentiles as Gentiles—but also Not—in Pauline Communities
• The Question of Worship: Gods, Pagans, and the Redemption of Israel
• The Question of Politics: Paul as a Diaspora Jew under Roman Rule
• The Question(s) of Gender: Relocating Paul in Relation to Judaism
• Paul within Judaism: A Critical Evaluation from a “New Perspective” Perspective

Top Highlights

“The so-called Third Quest of the historical Jesus is one example where the opposition between Jesus and Judaism has been replaced by a historically more likely view where Jesus is placed within Judaism and understood as representing Judaism. The same is now happening with Paul, but in his case the resistance from normative theology seems stronger.” (Page 34)

“It is widely recognized that the first appearances of christianos postdate Paul and that he never refers to himself or anyone else by this term or its cognates.” (Page 14)

“It is Christian theology that must adjust, at least learn to read its own origins cross-culturally when demonstrated to be necessary on independent scientific grounds. I am quite confident that Christianity will survive a completely Jewish Paul, just as it evidently survived a completely Jewish Jesus. Religions tend to adapt.” (Page 34)

“The conviction they share is that Paul should be interpreted within Judaism.” (Page 1)

“Although not all of the contributors would phrase the matter just this way, one might classify his endeavor, and that of the other apostles and representatives of Jesus as Messiah, as a new Jewish ‘sect’ or ‘coalition’ or ‘reform movement.’ He was shaping, and they were being shaped into subgroups of Judaism, that is, within a cultural way of life developed by and for Jews, even though many if not most of those who were joining these subgroups were and remained non-Jews. His concern to speak into the social tensions this created led to the writing of the letters we still seek to interpret today.” (Page 10)

Contributors

• Kathy Ehrensperger
• Neil Elliot
• Paula Frederikson
• Caroline Johnson Hodge
• Mark D. Nanos
• Anders Runesson
• Magnus Zetterholm
• Terence Donaldson

Product Details

• Title: Paul within Judaism: Restoring the First-Century Context to the Apostle
• Authors: Mark D. Nanos, Magnus Zetterholm
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2015
• Pages: 360
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Paul, the Apostle, Saint; Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul › Criticism, interpretation, etc
• ISBNs: 9781451470031, 9781451494280, 1451470037, 1451494289
• Resource ID: LLS:PAULJUDAISM
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:09:15Z

About the Editors

Magnus Zetterholm is associate professor in New Testament studies at Lund University and author of Approaches to Paul: A Student’s Guide to Recent Scholarship, The Formation of Christianity in Antioch: A Social-Scientific Approach to the Separation Between Judaism and Christianity, and edited The Messiah: In Early Judaism and Christianity.

Mark D. Nanos is lecturer at the University of Kansas and author of The Mystery of Romans: The Jewish Context of Paul’s Letter and The Irony of Galatians: Paul’s Letter in First-Century Context. He also contributed chapters to Paul and Judaism: Crosscurrents in Pauline Exegesis and the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations and Reading Paul in Context: Explorations in Identity Formation: Essays in Honour of William S. Campbell.