Paul and the Law: a Contextual Approach

Brief Description: Responding to much recent debate among Pauline scholars, Frank Thielman examines Paul's view of the law within the context of each of his letters. Brief Description: Responding to recent debate among scholars, Frank Thielman examines Paul's view of the law within the context of each of his letters. Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [311]-322) and indexes. Review Quotes: "The last two decades have seen an explosion of new approaches to Paul's theology and especially to his theology of the Old Testament and Judaism. This so-called new perspective on Paul has demanded response from various theological traditions. Frank Thielman's book on Paul and the law is the most thorough response to these issues to date. Not everyone will agree with all of his perspecitves and conclusions, but his book forms a fine starting point for further discussions of these matters."--Douglas J. Moo, professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity SchoolReview Quotes: "Frank Thielman's exposition of the issues surrounding Paul's interpretation of the Jewish law is lucid and helpful. Students should find this book a reliable guide through a thicket of formidable exegetical problems. Thielman's method of examining the role of Paul's statements about the law within the argument of each individual letter is an important advance in the study of this central topic in Pauline theology."--Richard B. Hays, associate professor of New Testament, Duke Divinity SchoolReview Quotes: "This book reasserts Reformation concerns about Paul and the law in a manner that will be very appealing to conservative Protestants; it provides a kind of neo-Calvinist slant on the law. It does so in a fair-minded way, and quite persuasively, dealing far more cogently with the different historical contexts of the Pauline letters than is normal in books on this topic."--Robert Jewett, professor of New Testament interpretation, Garrett-Evangelical Theological SeminaryTable of Contents: 1. Paul, The Law & Judais The Creation & Collapse of a Theological Consensus 2. Oppression, Election & Salvatio The Law of Moses & the Hope of Israel in the Time of Paul 3. Sanctified Gentiles in Thessalonic A Paradox in the Thessalonian Letters 4. Sanctified Gentiles in Corint The Paradox Intensifies 5. Old Covenant & New in the Corinthian Letter The Paradox Explained 6. The Law of Moses & the Law of Christ in Galatian 7. Rubbish & Resourc The Law of Moses in Phillippians 8. The Law of Moses, The Human Plight & the Law of Faith in Romans 1- 9. Old Covenant Sin & New Covenant Sanctity in Romans 5-1 10. Old Convictions in New Settings: The Law of Moses in Paul's Later Letter 11. Paul & the Law in Contex Note Bibliograph Scripture Inde Index of Modern Author Subject IndexPublisher Marketing: No issue in contemporary Pauline studies is more contested than Paul's view of the law. Headline proponents of the "new perspective" on Paul, such as E. P. Sanders and J. D. G. Dunn, have maintained that the Reformational readings of Paul have led to distorted understandings of first-century Judaism, of Paul and particularly of Paul's diagnosis of the Jewish situation under the law. Others have responded by arguing that while our understanding of Paul needs to be tuned to the clearer sounds now emanating from Jewish texts of the apostle's day, the basic Reformational insight into Paul's analysis of the human plight remains true to the apostle. Paul was opposing works righteousness. Paul & The Law is a careful attempt to assault this crucial interpretive problem with a new strategy. Rather than taking a systematic, topical approach, Frank Thielman examines Paul's view of the law in context: the context of each letter's language and argument. While many studies have focused on Paul's explicit statements about the law, Thielman goes further in investigating those contexts where Paul's language is allusive and his view implied. The result is an illuminating and significant contribution to Pauline studies. Paul & the Law clarifies our understanding of Paul's perspective on the law in the light of his gospel of Jesus Christ, and it reaffirms the coherence and integrity of Pauline theology as it relates to this pivotal axis of his thought.

Contributor Bio:  Thielman, Frank Thielman is associate professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of From Plight to Solution: A Jewish Framework for Understanding Paul's View of the Law in Galatians and Romans. (Brill).