Category: Pauline Epistles
Paula Fredriksen: Paul’s Ninth Symphony and His “Ode to Joy”
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… Continue Reading “Paula Fredriksen: Paul’s Ninth Symphony and His “Ode to Joy””
Martinus C. de Boer: Angels and Demons
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;… Continue Reading “Martinus C. de Boer: Angels and Demons”
Paula Fredriksen: Israel’s God is “Jewish”
Paula Fredriksen, Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017), 115. Israel’s god, in Jewish tradition, stands at the apex of humanity. The other elohim bow down to him; he alone is supreme. But his universality is ethnically inflected: this god… Continue Reading “Paula Fredriksen: Israel’s God is “Jewish””
Paula Fredriksen: Paul Among the Gods
Paula Fredriksen, Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017), 92-93. Until and unless we keep in view all of the social agents in Paul’s world – not only its humans, but also its gods – we will misconstrue his reports… Continue Reading “Paula Fredriksen: Paul Among the Gods”
Paula Fredriksen: Paul’s Letters as Greco-Roman Rhetoric
Paula Fredriksen, Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017), 63-64. Paul’s letters are instances of Greco-Roman rhetoric. The conventions of ancient epistolary style and the rhetorical tropes that Paul employs to persuade his hearers need to be taken into account… Continue Reading “Paula Fredriksen: Paul’s Letters as Greco-Roman Rhetoric”
Pamela Eisenbaum on the Brew Theology Podcast
I recently listened to an interview of Pamela Eisenbaum, author of Paul Was Not a Christian, over at the Brew Theology Podcast. In it she discusses the apostle Paul and all the topics related to him: his so-called “conversion,” his beliefs as a Pharisee,… Continue Reading “Pamela Eisenbaum on the Brew Theology Podcast”
Bart Ehrman: One of the Most Misread Passages in All of the New Testament
Bart D. Ehrman, Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020), 177. Undoubtedly the most important passage for Paul’s view of the future resurrection is 1 Corinthians 15. The chapter, in fact, is often called “the resurrection chapter.” It is… Continue Reading “Bart Ehrman: One of the Most Misread Passages in All of the New Testament”
Mark Nanos: Paul’s Relationship with Circumcision
Mark D. Nanos, Reading Paul within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, vol. 1 (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), 24-25. There is no reason to believe that Paul opposed circumcision of children born to Jewish parents, and good reason to suppose that he… Continue Reading “Mark Nanos: Paul’s Relationship with Circumcision”
Martinus C. de Boer: Paul, Jesus, and “Apocalyptic Drama”
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… Continue Reading “Martinus C. de Boer: Paul, Jesus, and “Apocalyptic Drama””
Mark Nanos: Paul’s Beliefs and Judaism
Mark D. Nanos, Reading Paul within Judaism: Collected Essays of Mark D. Nanos, vol. 1 (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017), 17. Is it not precisely within Judaism where Paul as well as of the other Jewish and Judean believers in Jesus Christ understood themselves… Continue Reading “Mark Nanos: Paul’s Beliefs and Judaism”
The Amateur Exegete 