First Thoughts on Dunn’s BFJ

I just got my copy of Beginning from Jerusalem (Eerdmans, 2009) in the mail today. This is James D.G. Dunn’s second volume in the ‘Christianity in the Making’ series. The first volume, Jesus Remembered (see Ken Schenck’s review HERE), focused on the person of Jesus. BfJ picks up at about 30 and goes to 70CE. The next volume will carry on into the second century.
Of course, a more substantial review will take place in the next few weeks (and months??). But, here are some early thoughts:

– It is huge (37 chapters that run of 1000 pages!)

– almost half the book is dedicated to discussing the conversion/call of Paul and his ministry. Though this is only a guess, I think that what appears here is the historical counterpart to his Theology of Paul the Apostle (1998).

-Pauline topics include: ‘The second founder of Christianity’, ‘Paul’s Strategy’, ‘Paul’s Gospel’, ‘The Reason for Romans’, etc…

– The book is dedicated to his children, and in memory of his own doctoral supervisor C.F.D. Moule (who died in 2008). Did you know Moule lived nearly 100 years (1909-2008)?