{"id":1914,"date":"2022-12-01T02:02:27","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T09:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/inchrist\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2023-01-29T22:45:04","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T05:45:04","slug":"a-tribute-to-e-p-sanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/inchrist\/2022\/12\/a-tribute-to-e-p-sanders\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tribute to E. P. Sanders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"E.
My own picture of my own copy of Paul and Palestinian Judaism.\u00a0The copy looks well worn because I have read and consulted it many times!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

E. P. Sanders, perhaps the <\/em>most influential New Testament scholar in the last 50 years, passed away on November 21. Ed Parish Sanders<\/a> was 85.<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019s Paul and Palestinian Judaism<\/em>: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/u><\/a>(Fortress Press, 1977) became a trend-setting work that sparked the new perspective on Paul<\/a>. Prior to this work, many Christian scholars, especially those influenced by Lutheran and other Protestant traditions, taught that first-century Judaism was typically a legalistic religion of righteousness by works.<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019s work undermined this perspective by showing through ancient Jewish-Palestinian literature (c. 300 BCE to 100 CE) that the Judaism of Paul the Apostle\u2019s day was a religion of grace. It did not generally seek to secure God\u2019s approval through human merit.<\/p>\n

E. P. Sanders\u2019s Covenantal Nomism<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For Sanders, these Jews held to covenantal nomism<\/em>: \u201cBriefly put, covenantal nomism is the view that one\u2019s place in God\u2019s plan is established on the basis of the covenant and that the covenant requires as the proper response of man his obedience to its commandments, while providing means of atonement for transgression.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

In Sanders\u2019s own words: \u201cThe \u2018pattern\u2019 or \u2018structure\u2019 of covenantal nomism is this: (1) God has chosen Israel and (2) given the law. The law implies (3) God\u2019s promise to maintain the election and (4) the requirement to obey. (5) God rewards obedience and punishes transgression. (6) The law provides for means of atonement, and atonement results in (7) maintenance or reestablishment of the covenantal relationship. (8) All those who are maintained in the covenant by obedience, atonement, and God\u2019s mercy belong to the group which will be saved. An important interpretation of the first and last points is that election and ultimately salvation are considered to be by God\u2019s mercy rather than human achievement.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

A covenant relationship with God and adherence to Mosaic law (the Torah) are central to understanding rewards and punishments from God. For God\u2019s elect people, the aspect of \u201cgetting in\u201d<\/em> a covenant relationship with God happened as a sheer act of grace. Jewish people were to keep the Torah in obedience to God, which constituted their \u201cstaying in\u201d<\/em> that covenant relationship. For Sanders, works are thus the condition of staying in, even though they do not merit salvation. In short, Israel\u2019s salvation is by grace and its judgement is according to works.<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019s Perspective<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With covenantal nomism intact, Sanders taught some other influential points regarding Paul the Apostle, such as:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. When Paul became a Christ-follower, his experience led him from solution to plight.<\/em> He started with God\u2019s redemption in Christ (solution) and then attempted to explain why humans were in need of salvation (plight). This view makes it unlikely that what is at stake with the Torah for Paul is not that it is impossible to obey or that it leads to self-righteousness. He agreed with Krister Stendahl that Paul did not have a troubled conscience as a Pharisee struggling to keep the Torah. Rather, he could claim to have confidence in his status and considered himself \u201cblameless\u201d regarding righteousness in the Torah (Phil 3:4-6).[3]<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Justification for Paul involves salvation through participation in Christ<\/em>. Sanders prefers to interpret the verb dikaio\u020f <\/em>(\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03cc\u03c9) as \u201cto righteous\u201d rather than \u201cto justify.\u201d The accent is not to be placed on the forensic aspect of God\u2019s declaration of acquittal but on a person being \u201crighteoused\u201d by participation in Christ. The righteoused person is transferred over into the community of God\u2019s people in Christ.<\/li>\n
  3. Paul\u2019s negativity towards the Torah in his letters resulted from his conclusion that faith in Christ was the only way to salvation. He objected to the Law because for him it attempted another way of righteousness. It is not that Judaism is legalistic. Rather, \u201cthis is what Paul finds wrong in Judaism: it is not Christianity<\/em>.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. For Paul, to remain a member of God\u2019s covenant people, God\u2019s will is to be fulfilled, not by particularisms of observing things such as Sabbath and food laws, but by loving one\u2019s neighbor.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The New Perspective on Paul and Sanders\u2019s Legacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    E. P. Sanders\u2019s viewpoint influenced scholars such as James D. G. Dunn and N. T. Wright, who helped shape this new perspective on Paul. <\/em>Likewise, the new perspective influenced other viewpoints such as the radical new perspective, better known these days as the Paul within Judaism perspective. Post-new perspectives, such as those of Douglas Campbell, Francis Watson, and John Barclay likewise are influenced by Sanders and the new perspective, as are those who seek to find common ground between the new and more traditional perspectives, such as Bruce Longenecker, Mike Bird, Stephen Chester, Brandt Pitre, and others.<\/p>\n

    Here are Some of Sanders\u2019s Most Influential Publications:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    (1977). Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion. <\/em>Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1977.<\/p>\n

    (1983). Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People. <\/em>Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers.<\/p>\n

    (1985). Jesus and Judaism. <\/em>London: SCM Press.<\/p>\n

    (1989). Studying the Synoptic Gospels. <\/em>(with Margaret Davies). Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1989.<\/p>\n

    (1992). Judaism: Practice and Belief. <\/em>London: SCM Press.<\/p>\n

    (1993). The Historical Figure of Jesus. <\/em>London: Penguin Books.<\/p>\n

    (2001). Paul: A Very Short Introduction. <\/em>Oxford: Oxford University Press.<\/p>\n

    (2015). Paul: The Apostle\u2019s Life, Letters, and Thought. <\/em><\/a>Minneapolis: Fortress Press.<\/p>\n

    (2016).\u00a0Comparing Judaism and Christianity: Common Judaism, Paul, and the Inner and the Outer in Ancient Religion.\u00a0<\/em>Minneapolis: Fortress Press.<\/p>\n

    Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

    [1]<\/a> Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, <\/em>75; cf. 180.<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism, <\/em>422.<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> See further on this and other points about Sanders in B. J. Oropeza and Scott McKnight, \u201cPaul in Perspective: An Overview of the Landscape More Than Forty Years after Paul and Palestinian Judaism,\u201d in Perspectives on Paul: Five Views <\/em><\/a>(Baker Academic, 2020), 1\u201323 (esp. 1\u20136).<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism<\/em>, 552.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    E. P. Sanders, perhaps the most influential New Testament scholar in the last 50 years, passed away on November 21. Ed Parish Sanders was 85. Sanders\u2019s Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion\u00a0(Fortress Press, 1977) became a trend-setting work that sparked the new perspective on Paul. Prior to this work, many Christian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4338,"featured_media":1917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1168,230,235,1386,293,1171,177,1174,181,292],"tags":[1395,1389,316,1392,202,313,196],"class_list":["post-1914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apostle-paul","category-covenant","category-covenant-theology","category-e-p-sanders","category-jewish-studies","category-judaism","category-new-perspective-on-paul","category-paul-within-judaism","category-pauline-theology","category-post-new-perspective-on-paul","tag-covenantal-nomism","tag-death-of-e-p-sanders","tag-e-p-sanders","tag-new-perspective","tag-new-perspective-on-paul","tag-paul-within-judaism","tag-pauline-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nA Tribute to E. P. Sanders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"E. P. 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