Two New Books on Paul and Apocalyptic Theology

In my forthcoming book Anomalous Jew: Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans (Eerdmans), I have a chapter on Paul and apocalyptic interpretation. Wish I had access to these books when I was writing it:

Just saw this coming out from T&T Clark/Bloomsbury, wish I had access to it a year ago!

A vibrant and growing field of discussion in contemporary New Testament studies is the question of ‘apocalyptic’ thought in Paul. What is often lacking in this discussion, however, is a close comparison of Paul’s would-be apocalyptic theology with the Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature of his time, and the worldview that literature expresses. This book addresses that challenge.  Covering four key theological themes (epistemology, eschatology, cosmology and soteriology), James P. Davies places Paul ‘among the apocalypses’ in order to evaluate recent attempts at outlining an ‘apocalyptic’ approach to his letters. While affirming much of what those approaches have argued, and agreeing that ‘apocalyptic’ is a crucial category for an understanding of the apostle, Davies also raises some important questions about the dichotomies which lie at the heart of the ‘apocalyptic Paul’ movement.

Since the mid-twentieth century, apocalyptic thought has been championed as a central category for understanding the New Testament writings and the letters of Paul above all. But “apocalyptic” has meant different things to different scholars. Even the assertion of an “apocalyptic Paul” has been contested: does it mean the invasive power of God that breaks with the present age (Ernst Kasemann), or the broader scope of revealed heavenly mysteries, including the working out of a “many-staged plan of salvation” (N. T. Wright), or something else altogether? Paul and the Apocalyptic Imagination brings together eminent Pauline scholars from diverse perspectives, along with experts of Second Temple Judaism, Hellenistic philosophy, patristics, and modern theology, to explore the contours of the current debate. Contributors discuss the history of what apocalypticism, and an “apocalyptic Paul,” have meant at different times and for different interpreters; examine different aspects of Paul’s thought and practice to test the usefulness of the category; and show how different implicit understandings of apocalypticism shape different contemporary presentations of Paul’s significance.