A Jew to the Jews: Jewish Contours of Pauline Flexibility in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Second Edition

by David J Rudolph, Richard Bauckham (Foreword)

David J. Rudolph raises new questions about Paul's view of the Torah and Jewish identity in this post-supersessionist interpretation of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Paul's principle of accommodation is considered in light of the diversity of Second Temple Judaism and Jesus' example and rule of accommodation.

314 pages, Hardcover

Published October 21, 2016

Reviews

[Lindsay John Kennedy]

Just how Jewish was Paul after his conversion? Didn’t he renounce his heritage? Didn’t he say that we are under grace, not the Law? To many, Paul effectively rejected his Jewishness and became a circumcised Gentile. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 is the smoking gun. Here, Paul’s Jewishness appears nonessential, optional. He simply adopted or discarded it for missionary purposes. But what if we’ve misread this passage? In A Jew to the Jews, David Rudolph confronts this reading of Paul. He specifically targets 1 Cor 9:19-23 and proposes that Paul remained a fully-observant Jew in Christ.

Full review here:
http://mydigitalseminary.com/a-jew-to...

[Larry Guthrie]

Though a heady read for a "layman", this book excellently vindicates Paul from the traditional interpretation of 1 Corinthians 9. Paul was a Torah observant Jew and remained as such with each group. An excellent addition to the growing body of new Pauline studies.

[Brian Allen]

This masterpiece was on my radar for years. The first edition was near impossible to get a copy of, so when I became aware of the more available 2nd edition, I was beyond excited. This is a wonderful addition to the Post Supersessionist library. Dr. David Rudolph critically examines well known passages (Galatians 1:13,3:28, Phil. 3:8, Weak in Faith language of Romans 14) that support the conventional "Paul broke from Judaism and Torah" teachings. The text he mainly works with and then branches off of is 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, the famous " I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some" passage, which everyone from mainstream theologians and scholars to pastors to lay teachers teaching youth groups use to teach a chameleon Paul. Chameleon Paul only needs to act Jewish when he's around other Jews, so that he might save some, or he needs to act law less around the heathen gentiles so he could likewise save some. Rudolph offers 218 pages of brilliant scholarship that challenges the Chameleon Paul interpretation and places Paul in his 1st century Jewish context. This book needs to be taken seriously, and indeed it already has been since the release of the 1st edition which N.T. Wright cited close to 25 times in his Paul and the Faithfulness of God. This book also has a wonderful forward by Richard Bauckham who says "A truly Jewish Paul must be a Torah-observant Paul." Anyone who is working on Pauline theology for school should add this book to their library. I would also recommend this book to Pastors and teachers. All in all, this book will be a joy to all who are interested in Pauline scholarship and theology. This book is most helpful if the readers has a decent understanding of NT Greek, but it is not necessary to fully understand the presented argument and solution. I'm looking forward to subsequent works for Dr. David Rudolph.

[Justin Wheaton]

I know Dr. David Rudolph. He is the Dean of my department at the university that I attend and I have spoken to him numerous times and he has even given me very helpful scholarly advice. I have also had classes taught by him and let me just say, he is nothing short of brilliant. Likewise, this book is an amazing read and truly enlightening. It masterfully brings back Paul's Judaism, something that was lost to him long ago. This book makes sense of what Paul means when he says he is a Jew to the Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles, something that Christians struggle explaining to this day. I would recommend this book to any serious student of the Biblical text and those wanting to see Paul's true Jewish roots. However, this book is extremely technical and Dr. Rudolph goes deep into Greek and Hebrew so be prepared for that. He is a true scholar.