{"id":14424,"date":"2013-05-12T13:44:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-12T17:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=14424"},"modified":"2013-05-12T13:44:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-12T17:44:25","slug":"retelling-romans-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2013\/05\/retelling-romans-introduction.html","title":{"rendered":"Retelling Romans: Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I have long said<\/a> I wanted to write a \u201cblogmentary\u201d (blog commentary) on Romans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think what I really wanted to do, above all else, is try\u00a0retelling<\/em> Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans so that it can be heard afresh by a modern Christian audience.<\/p>\n

\"\"One big challenge for Christian readers of the Bible is the tendency to know who the \u201cgood guys\u201d are in stories and assume that we are them. And so we assume that we\u2019re the Samaritan, or the tax collector, and not the priest or the Pharisee or the uncomprehending disciples or the stubborn and rebellious Israelites.<\/p>\n

And when we read Romans, we assume that we represent the view Paul is advocating, not the one that he is writing to combat and challenge.<\/p>\n

And so much as some have tried to mirror the original\u00a0impact<\/em> of the parable of the Good Samaritan by replacing the priest and Levite with a Christian pastor and Sunday school teacher, and the Samaritan with a Muslim or whatever else might upset a modern Christian hearer, I am going to try rewriting Romans as though it is addressing\u00a0Christians<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When Paul wrote it, the term \u201cChristians\u201d was not being used yet, at least by him. And so when he writes of the Jews, or of Israel, he is referring to those who then understood themselves to be the people of God \u2013 much as Christians tend to understand themselves today.<\/p>\n

And so I will be working through the text in small chunks in coming days. I may add commentary after the retelling, or I may leave it as is in the blog post proper, and explain reasons for rendering things a particular way in comments, whether immediately after or in response to questions.<\/p>\n

I hope you find the series interesting!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have long said I wanted to write a \u201cblogmentary\u201d (blog commentary) on Romans. I think what I really wanted to do, above all else, is try\u00a0retelling Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans so that it can be heard afresh by a modern Christian audience. One big challenge for Christian readers of the Bible is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":14425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,82],"tags":[720,1256,1846,1848,2054,3106,3872,5709,5978,6504,8716,8815,8917,10537],"class_list":["post-14424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-paul-and-his-letters","category-romans","tag-apostle","tag-blogmentary","tag-christianity-religion","tag-christians","tag-commentary","tag-epistle","tag-gentiles","tag-jews","tag-judaism-religion","tag-letter","tag-paraphrase","tag-paul","tag-people-of-god","tag-romans"],"yoast_head":"\nRetelling Romans: Introduction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have long said I wanted to write a "blogmentary" (blog commentary) on Romans. 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