Paula Fredriksen, Paul: The Pagans' Apostle (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017), 160-161. If the letter to the Romans is Paul's Ninth Symphony, Romans 11.11 begins its fourth movement, Paul's own "Ode to Joy." Alle Menschen werden Brüder, and the apostle, divining God's plan, knows how. Too many gentiles? No: more, in fact, will... Continue Reading →
Martinus C. de Boer, Paul, Theologian of God’s Apocalypse: Essays on Paul and Apocalyptic (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020), 22. The story of [the] angelic fall is found or alluded to in much of the literature (1 En. 6-19; 64:1-2; 69:4-5; 86:1-6; 106:13-17; Jub. 4:15, 22; 5:1-8; 10:4-5; T. Reub. 5:6-7; T. Naph. 3:5; CD 2:17-3:1; 2... Continue Reading →
Earlier this year I read with great delight Paula Fredriksen’s When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation (Yale University Press, 2018). Without going into great detail, Fredriksen’s work attempts to situate the early Jesus movement in its original Jewish context, specifically as an apocalyptic sect within Judaism. It wasn’t until the end of the first century and... Continue Reading →
Bart D. Ehrman, Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020), 192-193. As it turns out, it is possible to trace a trajectory in our surviving Gospels away from the deeply apocalyptic teachings of Jesus in Mark and Matthew, to less apocalyptic teachings in the later Gospel of Luke, to non-apocalyptic... Continue Reading →
Martinus C. de Boer, Paul, Theologian of God's Apocalypse: Essays on Paul and Apocalyptic (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020), 2-3. Paul's understanding of Christ and his saving work is permeated from beginning to end (from Christ's resurrection to his Parousia) by the categories and the perspectives of apocalyptic eschatology. Indeed, Paul goes further since he... Continue Reading →
Bart D. Ehrman, Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020), 106-107. It [i.e. suffering] would make sense if there were no God. Or if there were many gods, some of whom were nasty. But how can it make sense if there is only one God who is truly... Continue Reading →
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