My review of Paul and Judaism Revisited

[Bob]

The New Perspective on Paul espoused by E.P. Sanders, J.D.G. Dunn, and N.T. Wright, each in somewhat distinctive ways, emphasizes the idea of continuity between the Apostle Paul and the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism writers. These theologians oppose the idea that the Old Testament focused on salvation by works of the law while the New Testament teaches salvation by God's gracious initiative. They propose the idea of "covenantal nomism", that is that God initiates a covenant relationship with his people and obedience to the law or commands of God follows as a response of covenantal faithfulness to God's gracious work. The Apostle Paul's main contention was that under the New Covenant, God has extended that covenant to all peoples and that covenant faithfulness continues to be the appropriate response of recipients of this grace. The "works of the law" to which Paul refers are the "identity markers" of circumcision, and ceremonial and food laws that excluded Gentiles.

My point in this review is not to discuss or debate the New Perspective (which I hope I've adequately summarized) but to review Preston Sprinkle's recent work which takes a finer grained look at the contention of "continuity" between Paul and his various Jewish sources....

The remainder of my review appears at:

http://bobonbooks.com/2015/02/05/revi...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...