Four Views on the Apostle Paul – Video

Coming out in June is Four Views on the Apostle Paul (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), edited by myself, with Luke Timothy Johnson (Catholic View), Thomas R. Schreiner (Reformed View), Mark D. Nanos (Jewish View),and Douglas Campbell (Post-New Perspective View).

Now some might be wondering why there is no “New Perspective on Paul View.” Well, there is several reasons why. First, the NPP focuses mainly on a view of soteriology in Judaism and on a few specific topics in Paul, particularly justification and works of the law – which are narrower than we wanted to go; we wanted to explore more global issues on Christ, salvation, and community. Second, along with many researchers in Pauline studies, I think we are now in a post-NPP era (essays by myself, Brendan Byrne, and others have suggested this too). I think we have learned from the NPP that one cannot regard Judaism as a stale religion of works righteousness, Judaism was diverse, Paul operates within Judaism (or at least on its margins), Paul responds not just to theological issues, but to sociological matters as well.The NPP provided a corrective towards a more chastened traditional view of Paul, or else, broke open the bank vault so we could explore a wider array of political, ethnic, and religious issues in Paul’s letters too. Third, we need to get beyond the dichotomy that Paul had a “problem” with Judaism that was either legalism or ethnocentrism. Paul’s “problem” might belong more to his interpreters than to himself.